Who was Jean Charles De Menezes? Man mistaken for suicide bomber and fatally shot at Stockwell tube station

A senior firearms officer involved in the shooting of a man mistakenly suspected of being a terrorist 19 years ago will publicly share his story for the first time in an upcoming Channel 4 documentary.

Jean Charles de Menezes was wrongly suspected of being a terrorist after the 7 July bombings. Here’s what we know about him.

Who was Jean Charles De Menezes?

Jean Charles da Silva e de Menezes, a Brazilian man, was killed by officers of the Metropolitan Police Service at Stockwell station on the London Underground.

The 27-year-old was mistakenly identified as a fugitive involved in the failed bombing attempts of the previous day.

This incident occurred just two weeks after the July 7, 2005 London bombings, which claimed 52 lives.

Born January 7, 1978, he had grown up on a farm in Gonzaga, Minas Gerais, Brazil. 

At 14, he left the farm to live with his uncle in São Paulo, pursuing his talent for electronics. 

He arrived in Britain on 13 March 2002 with a six-month visitor visa. 

After it expired, he applied for a student visa and received permission to stay until June 30, 2003.

What happened to Jean Charles De Menezes?

On July 22, 2005, the Metropolitan Police were in pursuit of four suspects involved in attempted bombings the previous day, targeting three Underground stations and a bus in Haggerston. 

When these attempts failed, the suspects survived, prompting an intense police investigation and a city-wide manhunt. 

During the search, police found an address on Scotia Road, Tulse Hill, on a gym membership card recovered from one of the unexploded bags used by the bombers.

Mr de Menezes lived in a flat at this address with two of his cousins. 

That morning, around 9:30 a.m., he left his building to respond to a call for a fire alarm repair in Kilburn. 

Surveillance officers stationed outside saw Mr de Menezes exit the communal entrance.

One of the officers, later identified as “Frank” in an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report, noted a resemblance between Mr de Menezes and CCTV images of the previous day’s bombing suspects. 

Due to an alleged momentary absence, Frank was unable to capture an immediate image to relay to Gold Command, the Metropolitan Police’s major incidents centre. 

Testimony later revealed that Frank was a soldier temporarily seconded to the undercover surveillance unit.

Acting on Frank’s suspicion, Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police’s Gold Commander at the time, authorised officers to continue following Mr de Menezes and instructed them to prevent him from entering the Tube system.

Tragically, Mr de Menezes was followed into Stockwell Underground station and fatally shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder by two police marksmen who mistook him for a suicide bomber.

Scotland Yard confirmed Mr de Menezes was not connected to the attacks the day after his death.

An independent investigation later found that missteps in the surveillance process led to critical identification failures, resulting in rushed decisions that tragically culminated in Mr de Menezes’s death at Stockwell station.

In 2006, the Crown Prosecution Service ruled that no police officers would face prosecution over the killing of Mr. de Menezes. 

The commissioner would like to take this opportunity of making a further unreserved apology to the family for the tragic death of Jean Charles de Menezes and to reiterate that he was a totally innocent victim and in no way to blame for his untimely death.

Metropolitan Police

However, the Metropolitan Police was found guilty of endangering the public and fined £175,000, with an additional £385,000 in costs.

In a joint statement with the family, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner issued “a further unreserved apology to the family for the tragic death of Jean Charles de Menezes”. 

The Met Police also emphasised “that he was a totally innocent victim and in no way to blame for his untimely death”.

How to watch Shoot To Kill: Terror On The Tube

The police marksman is expected to break his long-held anonymity to appear on Channel 4‘s Shoot To Kill: Terror On The Tube. 

Alisa Pomeroy, Channel 4’s head of documentaries, expressed hope that his personal testimony would “help the British public understand… what became one of the biggest crises in British policing history.”

Pomeroy added that the interview would also give viewers insight into “the complexity of the atmosphere in London that summer.”

The documentary will explore the marksman’s “understanding of the role of the police as ‘goodies vs baddies’”.

It will also explore “the pressure of being at the centre of one of the most controversial moments in the history of British policing.”

Shoot To Kill: Terror On The Tube airs over two nights from November 10 on Channel 4.