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The firearms officer who fatally shot Chris Kaba is ready to be promoted after he was cleared of homicide, in line with reviews.
Metropolitan Police sergeant Martyn Blake, 40, is anticipated to grow to be an inspector after passing exams earlier than the capturing on 5 September 2022.
Mr Blake will probably be transferred from the firearms unit to a different division inside the power, it’s understood.
The marksman stood trial after capturing Kaba, an unarmed Black man, via the entrance windscreen of an Audi Q8 because the 24-year-old tried to smash and ram his manner via police automobiles in Streatham, southeast London, two years in the past.
He was cleared of homicide by a jury in simply over three hours on the Previous Bailey in October.
The officer should still face a gross misconduct investigation following an Unbiased Workplace of Police Conduct investigation into the capturing of Kaba.
After the decision final month, it emerged Kaba was believed to be a “core member” of certainly one of London’s most harmful legal gangs, the “67 gang”, and was allegedly immediately linked to 2 shootings within the six days earlier than he was shot lifeless by police.
Law enforcement officials on the scene didn’t know who was driving the Audi Q8 when it was adopted and stopped, solely that it had been used as a getaway automotive in a capturing the night time earlier than.
Final week, Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley Met chief hit out at “harmful narratives”, including that on-line commentary, typically largely focussed on Kaba’s ethnicity, risked undermining justice within the wake of the capturing as he urged commentators to be extra conscious of the load of their phrases.
Sir Mark known as for an sincere dialog concerning the challenges going through Black communities in London, noting younger Black males are 13 occasions extra more likely to be murdered than white males.
In the meantime, a report revealed final yr discovered that Black persons are no less than seven occasions extra more likely to die following contact with officers.
Following the decision, the house secretary introduced new policing reforms, which embrace anonymity for prosecuted firearms officers until they’re convicted.
The Metropolitan Police has been contacted for remark.
