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Police officer shot 'on instinct' | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
A specialist firearms officer who shot dead a colleague at close range on a police training exercise acted "instinctively", an inquest has heard. | |
Pc Ian Terry, 32, was shot while holding an empty gun as Greater Manchester Police's firearms unit practised in a disused factory in 2008. | |
He was playing the role of a criminal fleeing in a car when he was shot. | |
Coroner Nigel Meadows said the officer who shot the married father-of-two had said he had not intended to do so. | |
The hearing was told the aim of the role-play was to immobilise the suspect vehicle by deflating its tyres and then pull the pretend armed robbers out of the vehicle. | |
Officers taking part in the exercise were told specifically to keep shotguns aimed downwards at all times, it was alleged. | |
The officer, who cannot be named for legal reasons but was referred to by the pseudonym Chris, was interviewed shortly after the incident at a disused factory in Newton Heath, Manchester. | |
Mr Meadows said: "He said he acted instinctively to the threat of the gun from Pc Terry, although it was appreciated it was a training exercise. | |
"He later told an investigation carried out by the Independent Police Complaints Commission that he acted by instinct and had not intended to shoot a colleague." | |
Pc Terry, from Burnley in Lancashire, died in hospital shortly after the incident in June 2008. | |
The hearing, which is expected to last for five weeks, continues. | |