Guardian: IPCC says it inadvertently mislead media

The police watchdog investigating the death of Mark Duggan, whose shooting by police sparked the first bout of rioting in London on Saturday, has said it may have "inadvertently" misled journalists into believing the Tottenham man had fired at police.

Responding to inquiries from the Guardian, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said in a statement: "It seems possible that we may have verbally led journalists to believe that shots were exchanged".

Duggan, 29, was armed with a loaded handgun when he was shot dead by police after the minicab he was in was stopped during a planned operation to arrest him.

Investigators have established that two shots were fired by one CO19 firearms officer who was supporting Trident officers during the operation.

A postmortem concluded that Duggan was killed by a single gun shot to the chest. He also received a second gunshot wound to his right arm in the shooting at around 6.15pm in Tottenham Hale on 4 August.

A police officer was also injured after a bullet - presumably from a ricochet - lodged in his radio.

The alleged failure by the IPCC to provide Duggan's family and the local community with reliable information in the aftermath of his death was part of the reason the relatives protested outside the police station on Saturday.

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