THE police officer who shot dead Chris Kaba was "filled with dread" and thought his colleague was about to die when he opened fire.
Martyn Blake shot the 24-year-old rapper in the head following a pursuit in Streatham, South London, on September 5, 2022.
Mr Kaba had been trying to escape a police "hard stop" in his Audi when the firearms officer shot through his windscreen.
Blake is standing trial at the Old Bailey charged with murder, which he denies.
Giving evidence in his own trial for the first time today, Blake described how he was "filled with dread" after Mr Kaba's car moved backwards and forwards as cops surrounded him.
Jurors have previously heard how, when hemmed in by police cars, Mr Kaba tried to ram his way between a marked police car and a Tesla parked nearby.
Blake told the court he heard wheel-spinning and the car's engine revving as armed officers tried to get Mr Kaba to get out of the car.
Asked by his barrister Patrick Gibbs KC why he had opened fire, he said: "I had a genuine belief that there was an imminent threat to life, I thought one or more of my colleagues was about to die.
"I thought I was the only person with effective firearms cover at the time.
"If I hadn't acted I thought one of my colleagues would be dead. I felt I had a duty to protect them at the time."
He told the court he aimed his gun above the steering wheel to give the best chance of hitting the central body mass of the driver – as officers are trained to do.
Blake denied he had intended to kill Mr Kaba when he opened fire, but acknowledged taking a shot into the central body mass at that range could be fatal.
Mr Kaba died of a single gunshot wound shortly after midnight on September 6, 2022.
Blake said he was aware he may have to shoot someone as a trained firearms officer, but added: "You hope it won't happen to you."
Members of Mr Kaba’s family sat in court listening as Blake gave evidence.
He told jurors that working in firearms means "you face the most dangerous and potentially the most violent" in London.
The marksman added: "It’s daunting but it’s a very rewarding job."
He described it as "probably the best job I would argue that you could have in the Metropolitan Police service, working with some of the best people I’ve worked with".
Mr Gibbs told the court opened fire because "he simply and honestly believed that he needed to".
He told jurors that prosecutors have argued he had a mistaken belief about risk or took an unlawful decision to kill Mr Kaba.
But Mr Gibbs said there is a third possibility that Blake had been correct about the risk.
He continued: "Why else would he? Why else would anyone?
“He believed in the moment that the only way to negate a real and imminent threat to his colleagues was to do that momentous thing."
The jury has already heard fellow firearms officer DS87 say he would have opened fire if Blake had not.
E156, another colleague, also said he was fractions of a second away from doing so.
The trial continues.
