Hundreds of mourners have gathered in a mosque in West Yorkshire to pay their respects to the man fatally shot by police on the M62 as family friends demanded answers “as soon as possible”.
The grieving family of Yassar Yaqub, 28, and scores of mourners filled the Jamia Masjid Bilal in Huddersfield for the funeral on Friday morning.
Yaqub’s mother, Safia Bano, was visibly distraught and had to be physically supported by friends as her son’s coffin was carried out of the small building. Dozens of mourners prayed outside because it was full.
After the burial, hundreds followed the hearse to the burial site two miles away at Castle Hill cemetery. A large huddle of friends and family crowded round as the coffin was lowered into the grave, with many throwing dirt on it as a mark of respect.
The grave was covered with red, yellow and white roses and two signs reading “Yas” and “Dad” in flowers.
The traditional Islamic funeral, which took place three miles from the scene of the shooting, came as a postmortem examination concluded that Yaqub died of gunshot wounds to the chest.
The father of two, who called himself “stud badboy” and was allegedly a drug dealer, was fatally shot through his windscreen when armed police boxed in his white Audi sports car on a slip road of the M62 on Monday night.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is investigating the shooting, said a firearm was found in the car. An inquest in Bradford on Friday morning heard that the gun was found in the passenger footwell.
Friends and relatives carry Yassar Yaqub's coffin into the mosque ahead of his funeral and burial. pic.twitter.com/4Zn48wqG1W
— Josh Halliday (@JoshHalliday) January 6, 2017
Meanwhile, a man arrested as part of the operation in which Yaqub was shot appeared in court on Friday charged with two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and possession of ammunition. He was remanded in custody to appear before a crown court judge next month.
After the funeral service, friends of Yaqub’s family said the community was in shock and feared there may have been a racist element to the shooting.
Mohammed Akram, imam at the Jamia Bilal mosque, accused police of acting like “vigilantes”.
“They are there to protect us and these actions were like a vigilante-style operation and there is bad feeling in the community because of what they did.
It is the kind of thing you see in the movies and you don’t expect it on your doorstep. It is quite a shock the way the police have acted,” he said.
“In this case they have acted up front and in the reverse order. They have shot him and now they are investigating. This case could almost be a test case for the British justice system.
“In our community and across the world the British justice system is seen as one of the best. We don’t want it to move to like it is in America. Let the judges make the decisions on the facts and justice will be served.”
Asif Khan, a community leader, said the police should have apologised to Yaqub’s family soon after the incident when it announced an IPCC investigation.
“Some sort of press statement should have come out by now, that they are sorry about what happened and they will come out with some answers. We are expecting an explanation for the whole situation,” he said.
“The community is in a state of shock. There are a lot of youngsters around and they fear that there might be an element of racism, there might be double standards in carrying out this action and that is worrying for the community.”
Khan said he strongly condemned gun culture and criminal activity and the fatal shooting by police was “totally out of order”. He compared the killing of Yaqub with the case of Jo Cox, whose murderer, Thomas Mair, was not shot by police after he shot and stabbed the Labour MP in her Batley and Spen constituency in West Yorkshire.
“The killer was there with a gun and he was not shot on the spot,” Khan said.
Hundreds of mourners now leaving Bilal Masjid mosque in Huddersfield after funeral for Yassar Yaqub pic.twitter.com/xHdGN5pLRm
— Josh Halliday (@JoshHalliday) January 6, 2017
Shirjeen Malik, a friend of Yaqub’s parents, said: “The question here is not whether he was involved in gun crime or something else, it’s the way it was handled – that is the main thing. We can’t go around and shoot people on the spot like this, especially when the police was in strength.”
Malik said the community was keen to see a speedy outcome of the investigation. “When it comes to the question of whether this action was justifiable, that is the answer we require from the IPCC,” he said.
“Some sort of statement should have come out by now about what actually happened, why was the force used in such a manner. We’re hoping that within the week we should have a proper report by the officials.”
Waheed Akhtar, a family friend who grew up with Yaqub, said: “People do want answers. Apart from the things that happened in Bradford, it has been quite calm.
“People will be patient to a certain extent. The questions need to be answered as soon as possible. Them parents have lost their son, them sisters have lost their brother. They need answers. His friends, family, they all need answers and they need answers quick.”
Akhtar said he did not believe the portrayal of Yaqub as a gun-carrying drug dealer: “He was not like that from what I know of him. It’s far off the mark. No one’s perfect, are they? But from what I knew of him he wasn’t like that. The amount of people here today shows how much of a popular person he was. He was a really nice man, his family’s really well respected, his family are really nice.”
The IPCC has not given a timescale for when it expects to conclude its investigation but similar inquiries have taken several months, sometimes longer.
The watchdog appealed for witnesses as it said there was “no relevant CCTV footage” of the incident and that the police officer involved had not used body-worn cameras.
