| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Mumbai photographer: I wish I'd had a gun, not a camera. Armed police would not fire back. |
| 2008-11-29 |
| Shades of the Columbine PD. It is the photograph that has dominated the world's front pages, casting an astonishing light on the fresh-faced killers who brought terror to the heart of India's most vibrant city. Now it can be revealed how the astonishing picture came to be taken by a newspaper photographer who hid inside a train carriage as gunfire erupted all around him. Sebastian D'Souza, a picture editor at the Mumbai Mirror, whose offices are just opposite the city's Chhatrapati Shivaji station, heard the gunfire erupt and ran towards the terminus. "I ran into the first carriage of one of the trains on the platform to try and get a shot but couldn't get a good angle, so I moved to the second carriage and waited for the gunmen to walk by," he said. "They were shooting from waist height and fired at anything that moved. I briefly had time to take a couple of frames using a telephoto lens. I think they saw me taking photographs but theydidn't seem to care." The gunmen were terrifyingly professional, making sure at least one of them was able to fire their rifle while the other reloaded. By the time he managed to capture the killer on camera, Mr D'Souza had already seen two gunmen calmly stroll across the station concourse shooting both civilians and policemen, many of whom, he said, were armed but did not fire back. "I first saw the gunmen outside the station," Mr D'Souza said. "With their rucksacks and Western clothes they looked like backpackers, not terrorists, but they were very heavily armed and clearly knew how to use their rifles. "Towards the station entrance, there are a number of bookshops and one of the bookstore owners was trying to close his shop," he recalled. "The gunmen opened fire and the shopkeeper fell down." But what angered Mr D'Souza almost as much were the masses of armed police hiding in the area who simply refused to shoot back. "There were armed policemen hiding all around the station but none of them did anything," he said. "At one point, I ran up to them and told them to use their weapons. I said, 'Shoot them, they're sitting ducks!' but they just didn't shoot back." As the gunmen fired at policemen taking cover across the street, Mr D'Souza realised a train was pulling into the station unaware of the horror within. "I couldn't believe it. We rushed to the platform and told everyone to head towards the back of the station. Those who were older and couldn't run, we told them to stay put." The militants returned inside the station and headed towards a rear exit towards Chowpatty Beach. Mr D'Souza added: "I told some policemen the gunmen had moved towards the rear of the station but they refused to follow them. What is the point if having policemen with guns if they refuse to use them? I only wish I had a gun rather than a camera." |
| Posted by:Zhang Fei |
| #10 Firearms, more useful than a camera. |
| Posted by: Last Breath Farm Resident 2008-11-29 22:51 |
| #9 "What is the point if having policemen with guns if they refuse to use them?" Exactly. The chief of police of Mumbai needs to be publicly humiliated, the police force culled with extreme prejudice, and a new training program started with those who remain ... tomorrow AM. If I were in charge of those policemen, and I realize they are all extremely tired, they would all be recalled for re-training starting immediately. Their primary reason for existence is to protect the citizens. They failed. They displayed cowardice. That must not be allowed to happen again. But remember, while they had weapons, it is quite possible they had no ammunition or only a few rounds. Not enough for a protracted gun battle with well-supplied terrorists. Still, a few well-placed shots would have taken them out one-by-one. Despicable behavior from a "police" force. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2008-11-29 22:48 |
| #8 Any self respecting patriot would shoot him down....some reporters have blood in their veins, not water. As for the damn Mumbai police...they are cowards who can only beat innocents and poor people. Can I ask when the world knows that Dawood Ibrahim is behind this and lives either in Dubai or Karachi, why isn't he dead? How can he run smuggling operations in Mumbai...the effing police is complicit, thats how...The Chief Minister of that state and his lackeys should be shot for treason. I wish the dead were 300 politicians rather than worthy citizens. |
| Posted by: Jeresing Fillmore1921 2008-11-29 18:02 |
| #7 No self respecting journalist would ever shoot a gun; at least not at a terrorist. This is obviously false. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-11-29 16:09 |
| #6 Be like Barney Fife, keep your bullet in your shirt pocket. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-11-29 15:53 |
| #5 ...but the bullets make the gun heavy. |
| Posted by: Marzipan 2008-11-29 15:10 |
| #4 "Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest." -- Mahatma Gandhi. |
| Posted by: john frum 2008-11-29 15:01 |
| #3 I don't know if Indians are allowed to carry arms, but: If only the authorities are permitted weapons then they assume full responsibility for the defense of the unarmed citizens, and May NOT stand by, hide or run when the population is threatened, even if the risk to themselves is substantial (and a typical police sidearm against an AK-47 is most assuredly a high-risk confrontation - except for the first shot.) |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2008-11-29 14:46 |
| #2 If you'd thought your gun might work, that would have been a good opportunity for some target practice. Of course, that's assuming they were carrying any ammo at all. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2008-11-29 14:45 |
| #1 Those railway policemen with Lee Enfield 303s receive almost no firearms training. Most can't shoot straight and many weapons are not even serviceable. |
| Posted by: john frum 2008-11-29 14:39 |