POLICE officers who shot a homeless man in Walthamstow did act appropriately and with reasonable force, an independent investigation has found.

The unidentified man was hit with two bullets in Hale End Road in August 2013, after officers were called to reports of a man carrying a gun.

Within two minutes, two people had called police to report the man who had entered a shop armed with the gun at around 8.20pm on August 20.

Armed response units were sent to the area and officers gathered outside the shop.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) gathered evidence from witnesses who said the man tried to rob a shop with the gun.

The report states: “When Mr X entered the convenience store there were a number of people present, including the shopkeeper and a group of youths.

“According to these witnesses and CCTV from the premises, Mr X drew the gun from his waistband and pointed it at the shopkeeper.

“The shopkeeper swiftly realised it was not a real firearm and told Mr X to take it home.”

A group of youths told police Mr X tried to sell them the gun for £10 after leaving the shop.

Another man, known as Witness B in the investigation said Mr X then tried to rob him with the gun, but upon realising it was an air pistol he told him to go away and pointed to a marked police car.

Mr X then left ‘disappeared’ behind a bus stop and officers followed him on foot.

Footage from the Armed Response Vehicle shows the moment Mr X was shot by officers, shortly afterwards.

The video shows Mr X pointing the pistol at an officer.

Officer F42 said he began “to raise the firearm from a position of pointing to the ground to towards me”.

He said: “I believed he was going to shoot me.”

Mr X was seen to ‘physically jerk’ but did not drop the gun after being hit with the first bullet.

He turned to another officer with the gun raised, who shot him a second time.

In his complaint to the IPCC the man said he was on his knees when he was shot the second time, having already surrendered.

He also claimed to have found the gun in a skip.

Mr X was found not guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court of possession of a fire arm with intent to endanger life.

The testimony of the second officer was brought into question as Mr X did not point the gun directly at him.

But, the IPCC ruled that the officer was correct in stating it was in his ‘general direction’ and he had not intentionally misled anyone in his original statement.

IPCC Commissioner Cindy Butts said: “The investigator found no indication that the officers involved breached Standards of Professional Behaviour.

“Their actions were found to be necessary, proportionate and reasonable in the circumstances. Officers acted in accordance with policy and therefore no necessary learning has been identified in relation to their actions.”