⁍ The unnamed officer was treated at the scene for injuries but died in hospital.

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⁍ The 23-year-old suspect is thought to have then turned the gun on himself.

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⁍ He was taken to hospital with a gunshot wound and is in a critical condition.

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– A British police officer was shot dead in the early hours of Friday by a man being held at a custody center in south London, Reuters reports. The unnamed officer was treated at the scene for injuries but died in hospital. The 23-year-old suspect is thought to have then turned the gun on himself. He was taken to hospital with a gunshot wound and is in a critical condition. Officers did not open fire. “A murder investigation is under way and officers are working at several crime scenes to secure evidence and to establish the facts of what happened,” says London police chief Cressida Dick. “Early indications are that the suspect shot himself. This has not yet, of course, been established as a fact.” The killing of an officer is a rare event in Britain, where the vast majority of police remain routinely unarmed. The BBC says only 16 other London police officers have been killed by a firearm since World War II. “This is a sad day for our country and another terrible reminder of how our police officers put themselves in danger each and every day to keep the rest of us safe,” says Home Secretary Priti Patel. The last officers to be shot dead while on duty were unarmed police constables Fiona Bone, 32, and Nicola Hughes, 23, who were gunned down by a fugitive in 2012 after responding to a hoax call about a burglary in the northern English city of Manchester.