- guardian.co.uk, Saturday July 14 2001 01.42 BST
Andrew Kernan, 37, who had schizophrenia, was in pyjamas when he was shot twice in the chest by armed officers in a busy Liverpool street after he had ignored their repeated requests to drop the sword.
His family yesterday demanded an inquiry into the incident on Thursday night.
Police had been called to the flat by Mr Kernan's family and at least six officers were there when he managed to leave with a sword.
His uncle Ted Devlin said: "What we can't understand is how he got outside, because when I left he was in the flat and so were the police. He is a strong lad, but there were six or seven officers inside that flat. They should have been able to overpower him."
The area, close to a busy parade of shops, was cordoned off yesterday and a large tarpaulin covered the pavement where Mr Kernan fell. He became ill around 15 years ago and was a patient at Broad Oak mental health unit at Broadgreen hospital.
His mother Marie telephoned relatives on Thursday because her son was having a bad night. Mr Devlin's wife, Pauline, said the police should not have let him get on to the streets.
"We don't know how they managed to let him out and then to compound their mistake by killing him is an outrage," she said. "The only reason he was a danger to the public was because the police let him into the street. He did not deserve to die like that."
A team of four armed officers was deployed to the flat after a 999 call by his family, who also asked for a psychiatric medical team.
At the nearby Wellington pub, frightened staff locked the doors after hearing police cars and shouting outside. About 30 people were in the pub enjoying a quiz night.
Brian Williams, whose daughter is the licensee, said: "My son-in-law came downstairs saying there was a man outside waving a sword around. He was shouting to everyone to bolt the doors.
"There was a group of pensioners who were hiding behind a wall when the shots went off. They were very frightened. Everyone else was looking at each other wondering what to do. We feared that if he had got in here then there would have been a massacre."
His daughter Julie Carter, said she felt sorry for Mr Kernan's family and it was terrible that it had ended in the loss of life. "But if he had got in here, he could have caused mayhem," she said.
She said her husband had witnessed him walking slowly towards the police, ignoring their requests to drop the sword. He then sliced off a wing mirror with the sword.
Other people in Wavertree expressed shock about what they saw as the heavy-handed police response to the incident.
Florist Dorothy Atkin, whose shop is opposite the scene of the incident, described him as a wonderful and inoffensive man. "He often came in to buy flowers to put on his father's grave," she said. "He was the most gentle person and it has come as a huge shock that he has been shot by the police.
"Why couldn't they have just wounded him?"
Other shopkeepers said that he was always running errands for his mother.
In nearby Tony's fruit and veg shop, pensioner Ronald Mack, 78, said: "He would not harm anyone, he was such a nice lad who will be sadly missed. Everybody is in shock about what has happened."
Mike Tonge, assistant chief constable of Merseyside police, said negotiators talked to him for 25 minutes in an attempt to diffuse the situation."Efforts to do this failed and he left the premises armed with a sword," he said. "Further attempts were made to defuse the situation with the use of CS incapacitant spray, which was unsuccessful.
"Mr Kernan continued to cause a serious risk to the public and police officer safety, which ultimately led to the discharge of a firearm."
It was a difficult operational decision, but one which had to be balanced on the risks posed to members of the public and police officers.
Merseyside police have voluntarily referred the incident to the police complaints authority. An independent investigation is being carried out by Greater Manchester police, supervised by the PCA.
The Association of Chief Police Officers provides guidelines covering the rules of engagement for armed officers, but each force decides its own operational policy.
Merseyside police said in line with Acpo's guidelines officers would "only discharge a firearm when there is a serious threat to public safety and only ever as a last resort".
In a statement it said: "It is important to emphasise that the discharge of a firearm is a last resort, if all other attempts to ensure public safety have failed. In these situations, disabling tactics are often ineffective and can be a more dangerous option, which could result in the loss of life."
Mr Kernan is the 12th person to be shot dead by police in England and Wales since 1995. But he is the first to be shot dead by Merseyside officers.
