Mark Duggan’s death at the hands of armed police last Thursday lit the torch paper for violent riots, which are terrorising much of London
On Thursday evening, Mark Duggan was shot dead by armed police from the specialist firearms unit C019 as he made his way home in a taxi - sparking a wave of riots across London.
Rumours quickly emerged surrounding the killing, both locally and on social networking sites, resulting in speculation that Duggan was deliberately targetted by police. However, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) confirmed that a non-police handgun was recovered at the scene and a bullet was found lodged in a police radio - suggesting that police had been fired at first.
Duggan’s family believe the police did not do enough to communicate clearly with them and say they have been left feeling isolated, unsupported and ignored despite the loss of a father, fiancé, brother and son,
Duggan’s fiancé, Semone Wilson, told the Guardian that the family had not wanted the kind of violence witnessed over the weekend.
‘I know people are frustrated and angry out there,’ says Duggan’s brother Shaun Hall. ‘We would say please try holding it down…don’t let this bear my brother’s life. He was a good man.’
The 36-hour delay between Duggan’s death and his family being allowed to see him has not been explained by the IPCC. ‘I haven’t told my children that he is dead,’ says his partner Semone Wilson. ‘How can I tell them when I don’t have any answers about how he died?’
‘We went to the police station for answers. Someone did come out but they said they had no answers to give us because it was out of their hands,’ she says.
The initial inquiries suggest there was an exchange of gunfire and two shots were fired by armed police officers.
Stafford Scott, a community leader who was outside the police station says: ‘We do not believe that Mark was bad enough or mad enough to come out of the car and want to shoot at armed police officers.’
‘In this community for these kids everything is the same as in '85,’ says Scott, who has drawn parallels between the current riots and those of 1985 and the Broadwater Farm riots.
As the investigation continues riots spread across London last night in a second night of looting and disorder.
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