A knife-wielding man shot dead by police at Milton Keynes railway station has been named as 38-year-old David Joyce.
Armed officers responded to reports of a man carrying a gun at the station about 12.55pm on Tuesday and on arrival, challenged a white man who was carrying a knife before he moved at speed towards them.
“Shortly afterwards he was shot at close range,” the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which has launched an investigation into the incident, said.
A “single shot was fired by one officer”, the watchdog added.
“We have viewed police officers’ body worn video footage and a substantial amount of CCTV footage and established that, at around 1.04pm, the man was just outside the railway station main entrance with a knife in his hand and ran towards the officers,” it continued.
The police watchdog then identified the man as David Joyce, 38, who lived in Milton Keynes.
It said he was given first aid by Thames Valley Police officers but died at the scene with a provisional cause of death listed as a single gunshot wound to the abdomen.
“His next of kin has been informed and he was formally identified at a post-mortem examination this morning,” it continued.
“We attended the police post incident procedures on Tuesday, where the officers involved provided their initial accounts of the incident. All officers who attended the scene are currently being treated as witnesses.
“We will be taking statements from members of the public who were at the station at the time and are looking to secure further CCTV from nearby public buildings.”
The police cordon at the scene was lifted on Wednesday night.
IOPC director Derrick Campbell said: “Our thoughts are with the family and friends of this man and all of those affected by this tragic incident.
“Given a man has died after being shot by police, our role is to independently investigate all of the circumstances surrounding this incident including the actions and decisions taken by the police.
“We appreciate that this incident outside a busy train station will understandably cause concern.
“We know the community will want answers quickly and our investigators are working hard to establish the facts as we piece together what happened and how.
“We have obtained details of some members of the public who witnessed the incident who we will be contacting, however we know there were many people near the station around the time of the shooting and we want to hear from anyone who may have seen the incident or has footage of it.
“We have contacted the man’s family and will meet with them soon to explain our role.
“We will keep them regularly updated throughout our investigation.”
Residents in flats above Milton Keynes station reported hearing a single loud noise before a large police and ambulance presence arrived on Tuesday.
Alan Brockbank, 70, said: “All I heard sounded like something heavy had been dropped, it didn’t sound like a shot or anything.”
A large police presence attended around 10 minutes later, he said, adding: “Then, of course, they were all around the front of the building, actually we could see the person lying on the floor and they were trying to resuscitate him.”
He saw a man receiving CPR chest compressions who was partly obscured by the awning at the station exit.
Another man who lives in the flats, but did not want to be identified, said he thought it was a gunshot immediately “because it was really loud”.
