Sean Fitzgerald

Sean Fitzgerald, 31, died after being shot in the chest by a West Midlands police firearms officer, known as Officer K, as Sean exited a property on Burnaby Road, Coventry, on 4 January 2019. Sean was unarmed, and holding a black mobile phone as he exited the property.

It has today been announced by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) that it is their opinion that Officer K has no case to answer for his actions on the evening of 4 January 2019. This follows the conclusion of the IOPC’s original investigation in October 2023, over four years after Sean’s death, when the IOPC considered that a misconduct panel could find on the evidence that Officer K did not have an honestly held belief that Sean was holding a weapon, and therefore Officer K had a case to answer for gross misconduct.

Sean’s inquest took place over the course of six weeks between 7 April and 21 May 2025.

At the conclusion of the inquest the jury returned a majority conclusion of lawful killing.

They also found a number of causative failures both in the planning and implementation of the operation. Including:

• that armed officers at the front of the property should have announced their presence prior to applying the chainsaw to the front door;
• “Officer K and F should have announced armed police on the rear of the premises at the point the curtain moved behind the rear door.”
• “Officers K and F should have turned on their torches at the rear of the property” at the point the chainsaw began to be applied to the front door.

Following the inquest, the IOPC reviewed their decision making on the basis of new evidence presented at the hearing, and today’s announcement follows that review.

Liam Fitzgerald, Sean’s brother, speaking on behalf of the family, said: “This decision by the IOPC is very disappointing. We strongly disagree and believe that Officer K should face a gross misconduct hearing.

We believe that the evidence at the inquest, including his behaviour after Sean’s shooting, undermines Officer K’s version of events, including his account that he honestly believed Sean had a gun.  We consider he should have faced a gross misconduct hearing regarding his use of force, which would necessarily consider the truth of the accounts he has given since Sean’s death.

It has been 7 years since Sean was killed and our faith in the IOPC has continuously been eroded. The time they have taken to complete their initial investigation was totally unacceptable. We also believe the investigation was flawed from the start; from allowing Officer K to see his body worn video before giving a full statement (relying on post-deployment procedures which exist, a fact which is incomprehensible to us) to poorly selected experts who gave opinions on matters they were not qualified. We believe a good quality timely investigation would have shown that Officer K did not honestly believe Sean was a threat and that his actions were not only wrong but unlawful.

We now want to close the door on this chapter and remember Sean for the fun-loving person that he was and not the manner in which he died.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our legal team, Helen Stone at Hickman and Rose, Adam Straw KC, Tayyiba Bajwa and Tom Stoate at Doughty Street Chambers and Anita Sharma from INQUEST. They have worked extremely hard to help get the truth and justice that Sean deserved, whilst carefully helping us navigate a legal system that is totally alien to us and we are eternally grateful."

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

For further information please contact leilahagmann@inquest.org.uk or 020 7263 1111.

The family is represented by INQUEST Lawyers Group members Helen Stone of Hickman and Rose, and Adam Straw KC, Tayyiba Bajwa, and Tom Stoate of Doughty Street Chambers.