The Metropolitan Police Commissioner has hit out at “dangerous stories” about police shootings Chris Kaba by a firearms officer who was cleared of murder, revealing that Kaba’s gang was linked to 11 shootings in the past year.

Sir Mark Rowley said online comments, often heavily focused on Kaba’s ethnicity, risked undermining justice in the wake of the shooting, urging commenters to be more aware of the weight of their words.

“Since the beginning, in the last couple of years, most of the online conversation has focused entirely on of Chris Kaba ethnicity,” he said while addressing an event in London on Tuesday.

“Rumor and innuendo have fueled quite dangerous narratives of alleged wrongdoing which have emerged from the evidence presented in court and the recent verdict of 12 Londoners.

“I would go so far as to say that some people with huge influence were at risk of undermining the British justice system and these people should know better.”

Sergeant Martyn Blake last month he was unanimously acquitted of murder in the September 2022 shooting of Kaba as he tried to get out of a police stop in Streatham, south London.

The case fueled heated debate, with Kaba’s family staging protests after the verdict was handed down, while the government revealed intends to provide firearms officers with anonymity in court until conviction in a police liability review.

After the trial, a gag order was lifted that allowed it to be reported that Kaba was member of Lambeth “67“ band and he likely would have been tried for attempted murder in a nightclub shooting five days earlier had he not been killed.

Sir Mark told the event, hosted by Crimestoppers, that the gang was one of the 10 most active in London and was involved in child exploitation, drug distribution and the “indiscriminate use of firearms” and was linked to 11 shootings. in the last year.

“We only have about 95 key offenders in the core of the gang,” he said. “They have a lot more associates on the fringes.”

Sir Mark called for an honest conversation about the challenges facing London’s black communities, noting that young black men are 13 times more likely to be murdered than white men. He said gangs like the 67 were a “critical part” of that disproportionality.

He also warned there was a “fundamental problem” with police accountability that left officers more concerned with legal danger than physical danger.

“The police needed more accountability and more transparency,” he said. “I would never dispute that, but I think the sense that officers are now pulling back from using some of their more sensitive and controversial powers is evidence that … the prospect of legal danger is dominating officers’ decision-making.”

Last month, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to officers with firearms faces prosecution for police shootings to receive the presumption of anonymity until sentencing.

It followed reports that Sgt Blake BEEN forced into hiding after a £10,000 reward it was offered to anyone who was prepared to kill him.

However, the Inquest, which supports Kaba’s family and other victims of state-linked deaths, criticized the plans, insisting the principles of open justice must apply “equally” to police and civilians.