Man shot dead by police was ‘acting suspiciously’ on South Bank

"At this stage the evidence indicates the incident began at around 11.25pm on Sunday 8 March in the vicinity of the Royal Festival Hall on London's South Bank where a member of the public reported a man acting suspiciously to two Ministry of Defence Police officers who were patrolling the area," said the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) in a statement issued on Monday.

"The man failed to stop for those officers, who radioed for police assistance having discharged Taser, advising the man was in possession of knives.

"The man is understood to have come across Hungerford Bridge before entering Northumberland Avenue.

"At this stage, we are aware that Metropolitan Police Service officers arrived in Northumberland Avenue where again Taser was discharged.

"Two armed response vehicles from City of London Police then arrived at the scene and shortly afterwards, having discharged Taser, the man was shot on Great Scotland Yard by one of the officers. Two knives have been recovered from the scene."

IOPC's London regional director Sal Naseem said: "Our thoughts are with all of those affected by this tragic incident.

"Our investigators are working hard to secure evidence to establish the sequence of events which resulted in this man's death. It is mandatory for the IOPC to conduct an independent investigation when the police fatally shoot a member of the public

"We believe we know the identity of the man but his next of kin are still to be notified. In these circumstances it is for the police to notify the man's family after which we will take over family liaison responsibilities.

"We have identified a large amount of relevant CCTV and many of the officers involved were wearing body worn video. Over the coming days we will be retrieving and analysing that evidence."