London mayor Sadiq Khan repeatedly refused to apologise to a Met firearms officer acquitted of Chris Kaba’s murder.
Kaba was shot dead by Sergeant Martyn Blake as he tried to ram his car past police cars during a police stop in Streatham, south London, on September 5, 2022.
Mr Khan was put under pressure at the London Assembly on Thursday for being “too sympathetic” towards the drill rapper, 24, whose violent past was revealed after Sgt Blake was last month found not guilty of his murder.
It emerged that Kaba was a “core member” of the notorious “67 gang” in Brixton Hill, with a history of criminal activity including a jail term for possession of a firearm.
Susan Hall, the Tory former mayoral candidate, demanded to know why Mr Khan had described Kaba as a “young life cut short” two years ago before an Old Bailey jury cleared Mr Blake in three hours “with none of the information you had”.
She said: “My criticism is of you. You are a leader, well you’re supposed to be a leader. You are the Mayor of London and you are also the police and crime commissioner.
“And yet you were putting out things in a one-sided way right from the beginning. That police officer and his colleagues had to listen to that the whole time, very many of them knowing the background.
“Very many black families knew the background to this person. Yet you sent out nothing but sympathy, yes to the parents - I can believe that once or twice. If you thought it was so right, I don’t know why you took your comments off the website.”
Mr Khan denied anything had been deleted from his social media account.
But Ms Hall responded: “My view is you should take a more balance approached from the beginning.
“You should be more supportive or, if not, just keep quiet. Would you like to apologise to the police officer who has been found not guilty? Would you like to apologise for the whole attitude right from the beginning?”
Mr Khan said: “Can I put on record my thanks to all our firearm officers who do an incredibly difficult job under extraordinary circumstances and pressures.”
Ms Hall asked him again to say sorry and accused the mayor of “waffle, waffle, waffle”, adding: “I asked you a very simple question.”
When she accused Mr Khan of “sounding like a parrot”, he scolded her for descending the argument into abuse.
Father-to-be Kaba was shot through the windscreen of an Audi Q8 by Mr Blake, 40.
The vehicle was directly linked to three shootings in five months and Kaba would have stood trial for the attempted murder of a rival at Hackney’s Oval Space nightclub had he survived.
Mr Blake is said to be living in hiding, fearing for his life and his family, after a £10,000 bounty was offered in revenge for Kaba’s death to anyone prepared to kill him.
Kaba’s family vowed to continue their campaign in his name.
Scotland Yard chief Sir Mark Rowley called for greater empathy for firearms officers like Sgt Blake and the role they do confronting dangerous criminals.
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner said on Thursday: “Having regular coffees with Martyn Blake over recent months, I’ve been astounded by his personal resilience and dignity with what the world has thrown at him and his family which has turned his life upside down.
“Making this about race is dangerous and unhelpful conversation. I wish, and Martyn Blake wishes, that Chris Kaba’s behaviour hadn’t caused the confrontation it did that night and he had spent the next 10 or 20 years in prison.”
