Official inquiry into the death of Yassar Yaqub, Police shot legally

• Yassar Yaqub, 28, was pulled over on the M62 near Huddersfield in January 2017.
• His car was rammed by an unmarked police car and an armed officer fired three shots at him.
• A loaded pistol was discovered in the footwell under his seat when he was shot.

An inquest determined that a man shot dead by police on a highway was lawfully killed.

Yassar Yaqub, 28, was shot by an armed officer after his Audi car was pulled over on the M62 near Huddersfield in January 2017.

West Yorkshire Police were watching Mr Yaqub and three other men.

The Audi was rammed by an unmarked police car to stop it, and an armed officer leant out of his window and fired three shots at Mr Yaqub, according to a jury at Leeds Crown Court.

Two of the bullets struck him in the chest, resulting in “catastrophic blood loss.”

The officer who fired the fatal shots told the jury that he had “no other option,” and that Mr Yaqub pointed a gun at him before firing.

According to the inquest, a loaded pistol was discovered in the footwell under the front passenger seat, where Mr Yaqub was when he was shot.

To protect his identity, the West Yorkshire Police officer, known as V39, told the inquest he “feared for my life and the lives of my colleagues.”

Mr Yaqub, according to V39, had ignored his command to “show me your hands” and instead crouched before bringing a handgun over the dashboard.

The officer claimed that if he hadn’t opened fire, he “would have been shot.”

The jury concluded that the officer who shot Mr Yaqub “honestly believed that a firearm was being aimed at him, that his life was in danger, and that he used reasonable force in discharging his firearm.”

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