Yet justice had taken its course and there was peace after the verdict was delivered. That is hardly a surprise. After all, Duggan had convictions for cannabis possession and handling stolen goods, and had been arrested for murder, attempted murder and firearms offences. He was regarded by the police as a “known gangster who lived by the gun”, and it was believed that he was on his way to a drug deal – with a gun – when he was intercepted by the police. Few would argue that the police handled the incident and its aftermath flawlessly, but any attempt to portray Duggan as the victim of “institutional racism” (a phrase used by his supporters, drawing utterly inappropriate comparisons with Stephen Lawrence) is absurd. A false choice is being suggested between believing either that Duggan was “executed” by racist policemen or that the police behaved perfectly. The truth of the situation was judged, with all the evidence put before them, by the jury: Duggan was lawfully killed because there were good grounds to suspect that he posed an immediate threat to public safety.