A SUSPECTED gunman who was subdued with a Taser gun and arrested by heavily armed police in the centre of busy Camden Town was released with a caution, police said this week.
The man, in his 50s, has not been named but was seen by hundreds of startled onlookers as he was chased down Camden High Street and apprehended on July 20, just a day before police shot Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Underground station.
Terror-squad officers carrying machine guns and pistols tackled the middle-aged man outside the World’s End pub, opposite Camden Town Tube during the early evening rush hour.
Eye-witnesses described officers wrestling the man to the floor, grabbing a pistol from his waist and using an electronic taser gun to subdue him.
One said: “The police were very heavy handed – he had already handed over the gun when they Tasered him, which seemed unnecessary.”
The man shouted: “You don’t understand, I live around here,” as he was led away in handcuffs by police. A police spokesman said: “We responded to a call from Daleham block in Bayham Street that a man had been seen with a firearm.
“We found a man matching the suspect’s description outside the World’s End and detained him.
“The gun turned out to be an imitation firearm and he had no intention to use it in any way.
“He was given an adult caution and released.”
Police investigate every time a 50,000-volt Taser gun is used in an arrest.