Firearms operation and police contact investigated after man dies at home – South Wales Police, January 2022

A woman contacted South Wales Police to report that her husband was threatening to end his life following their recent separation. She told the call handler he was intoxicated, had a loaded shotgun, and was threatening to shoot himself if the police arrived.

During the call, the husband could be heard shouting in the background and threatening to shoot himself and the police. The woman tried to reason with him and asked him repeatedly to put the gun down. This call was graded as requiring an emergency response.

Firearms officers arrived and surrounded and isolated the house. A police negotiator team was sent to the incident, and a negotiator contacted the husband by phone.

The negotiator spoke to the husband several times throughout the night and encouraged him to leave the house unarmed. The husband refused but made various requests to the police, including asking for the police presence to be scaled back, to speak with a friend of his in person, and to speak with his wife.

Officers accommodated his requests where possible but were concerned about his reaction if the conversation with his wife ended badly. He was told he could only speak to her if he left the house unarmed.

During conversations with the negotiator, the man confirmed he had been drinking heavily and repeated his threats to shoot himself if officers tried to enter the house. He also made comments about shooting officers and claimed to have shot a hole in a wall (this was later confirmed). He was occasionally seen through the windows holding a shotgun.

Later that evening, the man stopped engaging with the police. His friend told officers he may have taken medication he had bought online. The man came to the door and told officers his guns were in a cabinet, and he would be in a better frame of mind when he had slept.

In the early hours of the morning, the negotiator spoke to the man again by phone. During this conversation, the man talked about shooting himself imminently and wanting to say goodbye to friends and family.

At the start of the call, he was speaking normally, but as time went on his speech became increasingly slurred, slow and flat, and his breathing became laboured. He eventually stopped speaking altogether but could be heard breathing deeply. Nobody was able to contact the man again after this call ended.

Officers entered the house the next morning and found the man dead. He had no gunshot injuries, but there were empty packs of medication in the sink. Toxicology tests found he had high levels of sedatives and alcohol in his bloodstream.

We received a death or serious injury referral from the force, and the man’s wife and sister later complained to us about how the force had handled the incident.

We decided to independently investigate the contact between the police and the man before his death, including the planning and conduct of the firearms deployment, how police officers responded to information that the man sounded increasingly intoxicated, why officers did not enter the house until the next day, and the intelligence the police held about the man’s possession of weapons and worsening mental health.

We considered this against law and local and national policies and guidance.

We also examined the complaints made by the man’s family, including the lack of consultation between the officers and the man’s wife, failing to stop members of the public entering the street, and the time it took to enter the house.

Our investigators obtained statements from firearms officers, commanders, negotiators and members of the public. They also reviewed body worn video footage, call recordings and mobile phone downloads, as well as reviewing documentary evidence and relevant local and national policies, procedures and legislation. We obtained reports from an independent tactical firearms expert and an independent hostage and crisis negotiation expert.

We concluded there was no indication that a person serving with the police committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner to justify disciplinary proceedings.

We found that officers were focused on their task and tried to bring the incident to a safe resolution while using working strategies and tactical plans that were in line with authorised professional practice. Efforts were made to control the scene, and while cordons could have been better managed, officers were operating in challenging circumstances. We concluded that the incident was managed appropriately.

We carefully considered whether there were any learning opportunities arising from the investigation. We make learning recommendations to improve policing and public confidence in the police complaints system and prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.

We did not identify any organisational learning in this case.