19 McCANN AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT 78. After the three suspects had split up at the junction, Soldier D crossed the road and followed Savage who was heading towards the Landport tunnel. Savage was wearing jeans, shirt and a jacket. Soldier C was briefly held up on the other side of the road by traffic on the busy road but was catching up as D closed in on Savage. D intended to arrest by getting slightly closer, drawing his pistol and shouting "Stop. Police. Hands up". When D was about three metres away, he felt that he needed to get closer because there were too many people about and there was a lady directly in line. Before D could get closer however, he heard gunfire to the rear. At the same time, C shouted "Stop". Savage spun round and his arm went down towards his right hand hip area. D believed that Savage was going for a detonator. He used one hand to push the lady out of line and opened fire from about two to three metres away. D fired nine rounds at rapid rate, initially aiming into the centre of Savage’s body, with the last two at his head. Savage corkscrewed as he fell. D acknowledged that it was possible that Savage’s head was inches away from the ground as he finished firing. He kept firing until Savage was motionless on the ground and his hands were away from his body. 79. Soldier C recalled following after Savage, slightly behind D. Savage was about eight feet from the entrance to the tunnel but maybe more. C’s intention was to move forward to make arrest when he heard shots to his left rear from the direction in which Farrell and McCann had headed. Savage spun round. C shouted "Stop" and drew his pistol. Savage moved his right arm down to the area of his jacket pocket and adopted a threatening and aggressive stance. C opened fire since he feared Savage was about to detonate the bomb. He saw something bulky in Savage’s right hand pocket which he believed to be a detonator button. He was about five to six feet from Savage. He fired six times as Savage spiralled down, aiming at the mass of his body. One shot went into his neck and another into his head as he fell. C continued firing until he was sure that Savage had gone down and was no longer in a position to initiate a device. 80. At the inquest, both soldiers stated under cross-examination that once it became necessary to open fire they would continue shooting until the person was no longer a threat. C agreed that the best way to ensure this result was to kill. D stated that he was firing at Savage to kill him and that this was the way that all soldiers were trained. Both soldiers, however, denied that they had shot Savage while he was on the ground. Soldier E (the attack commander) stated that the intention at the moment of opening fire was to kill since this was the only way to remove the threat. He added that this was the standard followed by any soldier in the army who opens fire. 81. The soldiers put on berets after the incident to identify themselves to the police.