Sean Fitzgerald

by Nick Moss

The jakes told a passerby
"We're just executing a warrant".
There was an execution, for sure.
January 4th 2019.
Sean Fitzgerald, aged 31.
Burnaby Road.
Coventry.
No mention of firearms on the warrant.
No firearms found.
Drugs as the justification.
No drugs found.
West Midlands cops
Staged their theatre of death anyway.
With chainsaw, hammers, flashbombs, guns
Lots of guns.
If in the first act you have cops with Glocks
In the second act a working-class lad will be dead.
It's the golden rule of UK policing.
Sean Fitgerald, 31.
Shot in the chest.
Unarmed.
Sean Fitzgerald
Killed by police.
But it's not a crime.
Apparently.
To shoot him dead.
Lover, brother, uncle, stepson,
Friend.
The laugh they'll miss
At every wake, every communion
Every wild-for-the-night party to come.
The funeral dirt bike ride-out
Brought the noise
For a family that
Refused the silence .
Standing firm for Seany
Lover, brother, uncle, stepson,
Friend.
Shot dead at 31.
Another name on a too-long list.

Sean Fitzgerald, unarmed, was shot dead by police during a raid on a property in Burnaby Road, Coventry on 4th January 2019. The purported justification for the raid was to search for drugs, and drug-related materials. The warrant made no mention of firearms but West Midlands firearms officers were deployed. No drugs or firearms were found and no one was charged with any offence. On 4 January 2024, five years after Sean's murder, the IOPC stated that the officer who shot him dead would face no criminal charges. The IOPC has still to reach any conclusion about Sean's killing, and his family continue their fight for justice, see here and here.