Brazilian Executed in Subway for Political Purpose

Outrage Grows Over British Police Killing of Brazilian Who Was Mistaken for a Terrorist

THOMAS WAGNERAssociated Press Writer
LONDON (AP) -- London police initially opposed an independent investigation into the fatal shooting of a Brazilian man mistaken for a suicide bomber, an official said Thursday, as allegations of a police cover-up grew.
''The Metropolitan Police Service initially resisted us taking on the investigation, but we overcame that,'' said John Wadham, chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is now investigating the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, who police shot in the head seven times on an underground train in south London.
Wadham's statement was issued after lawyers for the Menezes family met with the complaints commission, or IPCC, demanding more information about the killing.
Menezes, 27, was shot and killed by police who tailed him to the subway station on July 22, one day after four bombs had been carried onto London's transit system by suspected terrorists. The bombs failed to detonate fully.
Two weeks earlier, 52 commuters had been killed by bombs on London trains and a bus in the first reported suicide bombing in Western Europe.
The Guardian newspaper reported Thursday that Sir Ian Blair, the director of London's Metropolitan Police, tried to prevent the commission's independent probe, saying it could have a negative impact on national security and intelligence. The paper also said police kept complaints commission away from the scene of the shooting for three days.