Man shot dead by police while carrying a cat in a bag

This police shooting took place in a secure car park in Ascot Drive Police Station in Derby, UK, on Friday Morning.

Marius Ciolac ran a building and electrical business until it was dissolved in February. The reports are that Mr Ciolac had been due in the criminal courts three days before he was shot. The criminal case against him was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service. We don't know why but he was apparently in the police station car park with a knife and that a window had been smashed.

Cordoned off area where the incident occurred. Image: PA Media.

Derbyshire police apparently confronted Mr Ciolac and shot him. It is reported that he suffered gunshot injuries after armed officers were deployed to the station. He died in hospital.

Later on, there was a report that he was carrying a bag at the time he was shot and in the bag was a cat.

There were no reports about the cat until later on when animal advocates and people concerned about animal welfare asked about the welfare of this previously unknown and unnamed cat.

The online newspaper Derbyshire Live questioned Derbyshire police about the cat and a spokesperson for the police said that "The cat is safe and has been taken into the care of a cat centre".

So, the cat is safe and well and was unharmed in the incident. The shooting is being investigated as automatically occurs by the Independent Office the Police Conduct when there is a police shooting in the UK.

They state that Mr Ciolac's family is in Romania and Italy. They expressed their heartfelt sympathies, and they asked that people stop speculating about the shooting. 

They said: “A lot of rumour about the tragic events of Friday morning has been reported and while it is natural for people to want answers quickly about what happened, I would ask that people show patience and refrain from further speculation out of respect for Mr Ciolac’s family and for everyone involved."

I feel compelled to speculate myself! He was carrying a bag with a cat which sounds very strange. I'm going to speculate, which the police don't want me to do, that he was involved in a marital dispute or a dispute with a partner and they had a family cat. 

He lost his cool and he had previously lost his business and had been charged for some other misdemeanour which was dropped recently. It looks as though his life was imploding and he had grabbed the cat perhaps as some sort of leverage in a dispute with his partner.

Normally when a man grabs a cat it is to do with a dispute with a woman who owns the cat. That is all I can say.