Secrets of a Police Marksman reveals what it’s like to shoot and kill people in the line of duty

Tony Long
Former cop firearms officer Tony Long was known as ‘The Eliminator’, and his bosses at the MET joked he was the Met’s very own serial killer.
He has shot five people and killed three, making him Britain’s deadliest officer. But he was charged for murder for one of the shootings, bringing his career to a sudden halt. Now, a year after Tony, 59, was finally cleared for the killing of Azelle Rodney a decade earlier in 2005, he speaks out for the first time.

Revealing frankly what it’s like to shoot and kill people in the line of duty, he also talks candidly about how his life crumbled during the Rodney case.

Tony Long/Penguin Random House

“Some people might find the taking of a human life absolutely abhorrent,” he explains.
“But there are circumstances where that has to happen and somebody has to do it.”
With the help of original footage from the police operations, this compelling film takes us back through Tony’s career.
He revisits the sites of his shootings, as well as revealing his own background as a young man who joined the police force for car chases and action.
But far from being the cold-hearted marksman, he speaks of his emotions after his first shooting – a man who held a four-year-old girl hostage after killing the girl’s mother.

Tony Long/Penguin Random House

Manning a counter-sniper position overlooking Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall, during a ceremonial event in 2006. I am armed with an Accuracy International 7.62mm sniper rifle equipped with a Schmitt & Bender scope

Tony Long/Penguin Random House

A hostage rescue demonstration at the new Metropolitan Police Specialist Training Centre at Gravesend in Kent, using purpose-built assault vehicle and pyrotechnic distractions. A far cry from the make-do of the early days!

Dad-of-two Tony recalls it happened on his son’s third birthday in 1985, making it particularly poignant.
And we look back to 2005 and the events that led to Tony shoo