Police officer charged with murder in Chris Kaba shooting to appear in court

A Metropolitan Police sniper who shot dead Chris Kaba, 24, will appear in court after being charged with murder.

The police officer, identified only as NX121, fired a single shot which passed through the windshield of the car Mr. Kaba was driving and hit him in the head.

Moments before the shooting on September 6 last year, Mr Kaba, 24, turned towards Kirkstall Gardens in Streatham Hill, south London, and collided with a marked police car.

The officer is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday morning and later at the Old Bailey to sort out his bail.

They have not yet been publicly named by the Crown Prosecution Service, as is usual when an adult is charged with murder, as they intend to request anonymity in court, it appears- he.

On Wednesday, Mr Kaba’s relatives welcomed the decision to charge the police officer and said they hoped a trial could take place “without delay”.

On the day Mr. Kaba died, he was followed by an unmarked police car, without lights or sirens, while he was driving an Audi that was not his.

It is rare for police officers to be charged with murder or manslaughter.

Since 1990, 1,869 deaths have occurred in or after police custody in England and Wales, the charity Inquest said.

A police officer was charged with murder or manslaughter in 12 of those cases.

There has only been one conviction of a police officer in that time – West Mercia Police Constable Benjamin Monk, who was jailed in 2021 for the manslaughter of former footballer Dalian Atkinson.