Police marksman ‘convinced’ Azelle Rodney was about to shoot

58 year old Anthony Long (pictured above) described to an Old Bailey jury how it was “the most difficult decision I had ever made” in a career as police marksman spanning 17 years.

Azelle Rodney was shot dead while seated in the backseat of a car, during a police hard stop operation in North London in 2005. A court heard that he was part of an armed gang who were on their way to rob Colombian drug dealers of a stache of cocaine.

A reconstruction compiled by the prosecution showed how four unmarked police cars corralled the gangs’ VW golf before the police marksman fired eight shots in 2.2 seconds into the car.

Under cross examination the former police marksman said: “All I had was seconds to make the decision on whether I was going to let my colleagues be shot by someone with a sub machine or whether I was going to take life. I chose to take his life. That was the decision I made and I stand by.”

No automatic weapons were found in the car, although intelligence before the operation suggested that gang were armed with automatic weapons capable of firing 18 bullets a second. Three guns were found in the golf – a Colt.45 calibre pistol, a Baikal pistol and a smaller gun described a lookng like a key fob.

Mr Long described as nonsense the suggestion that he had opened fire without justification. He said that he had seen the victim turn his head to the left, then right, duck down, then spring up in “a totally unnatural movement” that made him think he had picked up a weapon.

Mr Long denies a charge of murder.

The prosecution argues that the his account does not represent the truth and that he had no lawful justification for shooting Azelle Rodney.