Armed police last week burst into the home of a grieving family who was holding a wake for a much-loved father in Brixton.
The Roper family found itself confronted by police officers from three separate armed police divisions, who burst into the house in Bellefields Road, via a ground floor casement window, last Monday night.
The family claims that during the terrifying operation, officers ordered two six-year-old children who were playing in one room to lie down on the floor with their hands on their heads.
Commander of Lambeth police Brian Paddick said: Clearly, if we had had any idea what was going on at that premises we would never have raided it.
I apologise unreservedly to the family and to the community. We deeply regret the circumstances.
The raid resulted from intelligence gained by police after a car was stopped at Heathrow the day before.
Police believe the car was involved in a shooting incident which had taken place in Tooley Street, Southwark, on October 26, which left a 19-year-old in a permanently paraplegic condition.
When police stopped the car, the two men and one woman inside told them the vehicle did not belong to them and that it was borrowed. They directed them to the Brixton address.
The raid which resulted from the information involved armed police from the black-on-black crime unit Operation Trident, SO19, and the territorial support group. No shots were fired and one man who was arrested was released without charge while still at the house.
A police spokesman said: We always regret distress caused by the deployment of firearms officers. However, on occasion this type of operation is essential to protect the safety of Londoners. For the safety of police and the public, paramedics are always on stand-by.
In this case, we were not aware of the manner of the gathering.
Lee Jasper, racial advisor to London Mayor Ken Livingstone, said: I have asked for a case review by the Independent Advisory Group into the incident and to facilitate a meeting between the family and officers involved in the raid.
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