Cllr Abrams said: “I would like to start by extending our deepest condolences to Chris’s family and friends, who have been through a four year ordeal and for whom the trauma is ongoing.
“We have reached out to his family and offered our support, and would be honoured, with their approval, to be part of whatever community healing process may be possible going forwards.
“We note the not guilty verdict delivered by a jury in this case in October 2024, while also acknowledging the response of the charity Inquest: Chris was unarmed with his hands visibly on the wheel of a stationary car when he was shot in the head.
“Martyn Blake was due to face a gross misconduct hearing, but a law change in June 2026 reduced the burden of proof for the defendant.
“The IOPC decided first to delay its misconduct proceedings, announced in April 2025, until the result of this potential legislative change, and then to drop the hearing, despite the law having no retrospective power.
“We echo concerns from the Justice for Chris Kaba Campaign of this ‘extraordinary treatment’ and the from Inquest of the ‘dangerous erosion of police accountability’.
“We note most importantly the unmissable racial dimension of this and other deaths at the hands of the Metropolitan Police. Since 2005, four men who were unarmed at the point they faced armed police have been shot dead by the Met in non-terrorist operations.
“Chris Kaba in 2022, Jermaine Baker in 2015, Mark Duggan in 2011 and Azelle Rodney in 2005. They were all Black. We cannot divorce this from wider discriminatory practices: Black people are up to 48 times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police in many parts of London.
“Baroness Casey’s March 2023 Review, commissioned after the murder of Sarah Everard – also in our borough – found the Metropolitan Police to be institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.
“We call upon the Met to act urgently upon these findings.”
“We stand in solidarity with the Black members of our community and even more firmly and steadfastly in our commitment to build a society and a borough united behind social, economic and racial justice.”
