IOPC to investigate police shooting in Bury

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has begun an investigation into a Greater Manchester Police (GMP) firearms operation in which a man was shot.

It happened in Bury New Road, Whitefield, at 3pm on Friday 22 May during a policing operation in which officers attempted to stop a vehicle.

During the incident, the driver of the car was shot in the arm by a GMP officer and suffered a broken elbow. The injured person, a man aged 20, was the car’s sole occupant.

We have verified that one of the officers discharged a single shot during the incident, causing the injury, while another single shot was fired shortly afterwards by another officer to deflate a tyre on the vehicle.

GMP referred the matter to us shortly after the incident, and we declared an independent investigation at 6.57pm that day.

Our investigators attended the scene of the shooting to preserve evidence, plus the post incident procedures (PIP) where the firearms officers involved in the operation gave their initial accounts of what happened.

We have secured two police firearms for examination and officers’ body worn video recovered and viewed.

IOPC Director Amanda Rowe, said: “We have already viewed the officers’ body worn video to make an initial assessment of the circumstances. The footage verifies that three firearms vehicles ‘boxed in’ the man’s car using a containment tactic. The subject appears to try and drive out of the containment before the shot that injured him was fired.

“It’s right for public confidence and police accountability that any decision to discharge a firearm, especially one in which a member of the public is injured, is thoroughly and independently examined.

“We are in the initial stages of our investigation but have already made good progress. We aim to work through our enquiries as efficiently as possible to understand exactly what happened and to update the public.”