Police officer who shot unarmed Chris Kaba charged with murder

A Metropolitan Police officer has been charged with the murder of Chris Kaba, the Crown Prosecution Service has said. Kaba, 24, died the day after he was hit by a single gunshot fired by a police firearms officer in Streatham Hill on 5th September last year.

The car he was driving was followed through south London by an unmarked police car with no lights or sirens. He then turned into Kirkstall Gardens, a narrow residential street, where there was a collision between the vehicle he was in and a marked police car that was waiting for him at the scene.

An officer who was in that marked vehicle (referred to as NX121 for legal reasons) fired one shot through the windscreen, hitting Kaba in the head.bIt later emerged that the Audi Kaba was driving – which did not belong to him – had been linked by police to a firearms incident the previous day.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) opened an investigation into the case, which lasted nearly seven months, before handing over a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in March.

The officer – who has not been named – will appear before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.