Rapper Wretch 32 claims killing of Chris Kaba was 'execution'

24 October 2024, 18:01 | Updated: 24 October 2024, 18:21

Rapper Wretch 32 has described the killing of Chris Kaba as an "execution" - adding he doesn't think "justice has been done".

Mr Kaba, 24, was unarmed when firearms officer Martyn Blake shot him through the windscreen of an Audi Q8 as he tried to ram his way past police cars in Lambeth, south London, in 2022.

On Monday, Blake was cleared of his murder.

After the case concluded, it emerged Mr Kaba was a "core member" of one of London's most dangerous criminal gangs and was allegedly directly linked to two shootings in the six days before he was shot dead by police.

On Wednesday, the singer said the Metropolitan Police are "good at villainising" and "turning people against a person".

He added the force utilise this to "execute a person with any repercussions".

Police bodycam shows moment Chris Kaba is shot

The rap artist told Sky News the force talk of "split second moments" but said incidents such as the once involving Kaba would be "detailed operations" where officers are "trained".

"For you to be a trained professional it doesn't allow you to assassinate someone, or execute someone."

"I don't understand how we get to that point."

He added: "Only until there's some form of judicial system are we gonna see justice.

"If the police are policing the police we're never gonna get the results that we want."

In a social media post, Wretch32 also said: "Chris kaba had both hands on the steering wheel & was shot in the head! I call that a execution"

The acquittal of Blake sparked protests by some, and Kaba's family said Mr Blake being found not guilty showed "our lives are not valued by the system".

It emerged on Tuesday that Kaba's former gang '67' had put out a £10,000 bounty on Mr Blake after the shooting.

He has now gone into hiding.

Read more: Give armed police more legal protection, says Met chief, as officer cleared of Chris Kaba murder forced into hiding

Read more: Met Police marksman cleared of murdering Chris Kaba forced into hiding after gangsters put £10k bounty on his head

The IOPC is reviewing whether Mr Blake should still face disciplinary proceedings.

Last September, dozens of officers handed in their weapons to protest the decision to charge a colleague with the murder of Kaba.

The army had to be placed on standby as a result.

Between April and December 2023, the Met lost over 250 authorised firearms officers - one in 10 - compared to only 22 in the year leading up to March 2023, according to figures in The Times.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said on Monday: "No police officer is above the law, but we have been clear that the system holding police to account is broken.

"I worry about the lack of support officers face for doing their best, but most of all, I worry for the public.

"The more we crush the spirit of good officers, the less they can fight crime that risks London becoming less safe."

Counter-terrorism expert explains 'reasonable' shooting of Chris Kaba

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced that the assumption of anonymity would stay in place until they’ve been convicted.

As part of a review into the accountability of armed police officers – which began last year – the Home Office will also now hold a ‘rapid independent review’ into the threshold at which use of force cases against armed officers are sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Neil Basu: Chris Kaba case must be seen as 'watershed moment'

'Criminal, wicked minority'

Speaking in the Commons, Conservative MP Sir John Hayes said: "In a righteous echo of St Matthew's Gospel, the elimination of vicious, violent criminal Chris Kaba reminds us that those who live by weapons die by the same.

"But further to yesterday's statement, there are real doubts about the fitness for purpose of the CPS and the IOPC.

"So can we have a debate on whether those organisations have become so infected by a kind of bourgeois, liberal, doubt-fuelled, virtue-signalling that they've lost the will to defend the law-abiding majority from a criminal, wicked minority?"

Commons Leader Lucy Powell pointed to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper's Commons statement on Wednesday in which she revealed a string of reforms, including keeping the identity of firearms officers secret if they are prosecuted unless they are convicted.

Ms Powell added: "Some of those measures will be included in forthcoming legislation from the (Home Office) so I'm sure we'll have ample time to debate them further then."

Ms Cooper vowed to raise the threshold for officers facing court so it matches the measure the CPS uses for making charging decisions about members of the public.