Police have shot dead a man in north London who was threatening a woman with a knife.
It is the first fatal shooting by a Metropolitan Police marksman since the death of Mark Duggan in 2011.
Residents in leafy Islington said they woke up at around 1am to hear a volley of gunshots “like fireworks” and saw the area swamped with police cars and armed officers.
Scotland Yard say the man, 40, died on his way to hospital — around 20 minutes later.
Photos taken by neighbours show a middle-aged woman in a pink blanket being comforted by a female police officer as she was led away from the house in Shepperton Road in Islington. She was not harmed but was treated for shock.
Police had sent a negotiator to the scene at 11.19pm last night following reports that the man had broken into a house. The man and woman involved are believed to have known each other.
Investigators from watchdog the Independent Police Complaints Commission were at the scene of the shooting today.
Lyssa Barber, a neighbour who works in recruitment for a bank in the City, said she woke to sounds of shouting and banging. “I think I heard five gunshots, but a gunshot in real life doesn’t sound like it does on TV. It sounded like loud bangs on a door. Bang, bang, bang. Then I realised, if it’s somebody banging on the door, why can I hear it?”
“We saw the ambulance and police. There were eight police vehicles I could see from my window, and I saw five armed officers.”
“I think a couple lived in the house,” she added. “I think they were middle-aged, maybe in their 50s.”
Neighbours said police cordoned off the street and stopped some residents from returning to their homes. Shortly afterwards they heard gunshots.
Daniel Keane, 28, an office worker who lives in the street, said he thought he heard fireworks. “The shots didn’t last long at all, but it wasn’t a standard type of firework sound,” he said. “It sounded different.”
The street remains cordoned off with more than a dozen police officers at the scene.
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “As in any shooting, officers from the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) have been informed and this incident has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).”
Press Association