Fatal shooting of Black man by police referred to London prosecutors

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - UK's police watchdog on Thursday decided to refer the case of Chris Kaba, a Black man killed by a police officer last year in south London, to prosecutors.

Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said in a statement that they sent the file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) following the conclusion of their homicide investigation.

On Sept. 5 last year, 24-year-old Kaba was killed by a single gunshot by an unnamed Metropolitan Police officer through the windscreen of a car in Streatham Hill, south London.

"A referral to the CPS does not necessarily mean that criminal charges will follow. It is now for the CPS to decide, applying the tests in the Code for Crown Prosecutors, whether or not to prosecute the officer," said the statement.

"It was vital that the IOPC fully investigated all the evidence before making a decision, and now that they have referred this case to the CPS, I hope it will be considered as swiftly as possible," London Mayor Sadiq Khan said on Twitter.