Police mistakenly used a smoke grenade instead of a stun grenade while responding to an attacker who stabbed six people before being shot and killed, an inquiry has heard.
Badreddin Abdalla Adam Bosh attacked three asylum seekers, two staff members and a police officer at the Park Inn hotel in Glasgow on 26 June 2020, during the COVID lockdown.
The 28-year-old asylum seeker, from Sudan, was shot by police and died in the incident in West George Street.
A preliminary hearing ahead of a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into the incident heard specialist firearms officers were deployed and used a smoke grenade while searching the building for Bosh.
The inquiry heard that while this may have affected communications between those at the scene and in the police control room, it did not contribute to the death of Bosh.
Shelagh McCall KC, representing the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) and a number of anonymous officers, said the smoke grenade caused a fire alarm to be activated in the hotel.
That may have affected communications between officers, staff and residents at the scene, and communications in the control room where people were listening on the radio, she added.
“A smoke grenade was entirely inappropriate to the situation,” Ms McCall told the hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Tuesday.
“A stun grenade was the intention.”
The incident occurred in Glasgow three months after the start of lockdown restrictions in 2020. Pic: PA
Ms McCall said an officer selected the wrong device from the gun safe and another then detonated it in the building “not appreciating that it was the wrong kind of device”.
She asked for the two officers, who are on a list of witnesses, and five others to be granted anonymity.
Sheriff Principal of Glasgow and Strathkelvin, Aisha Anwar, agreed to grant anonymity orders for the seven – comprising firearms and tactical firearms officers – who will be referred to only by a number.
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Ms Anwar offered her condolences to friends and family of Bosh, saying there will be “chapters of evidence that will be difficult for his family and friends to hear and reliving the events… will be traumatic” for those he injured.
“This inquiry will do all it can to ensure the difficult chapters of evidence are handled sensitively,” she added.
The inquiry has 83 people currently on the witness list.
Solicitor Advocate Alan Cameron said it was too early to say how long the FAI might last or to fix a date for it to begin. A further preliminary hearing will take place on 23 June.
Unlike criminal proceedings, FAIs are inquisitorial in nature, and are used to establish facts rather than apportion blame.
The FAI will determine the cause of death; the circumstances in which it occurred; and to establish what reasonable precautions could have been taken to minimise the risk of future deaths in similar circumstances.
A previous investigation by the procurator fiscal found the actions of police were “absolutely necessary” and “proportionate”.
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