PC's killing sparks gun debate
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Police are hunting U.S.-born Nathan Wayne Coleman.
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- There are growing calls in the UK for all police to carry guns after an unarmed officer was shot dead.
PC Ian Broadhurst was shot dead in Leeds, northern England, while trying to arrest the occupant of a stolen car.
Another police officer was shot twice and is recovering in hospital. A third escaped injury when a bullet ricocheted off his radio belt and the buckle on his baton.
Police are hunting U.S.-born Nathan Wayne Coleman, 37, in connection with the killing. Coleman has lived in the UK for around four years and worked as a nightclub doorman, they say.
The killing has sparked a debate in Britain about whether all British police officers should be armed. At present, only some trained officers carry guns.
Norman Brennan, Director of Protect the Protectors pressure group, said: "Gun crime has become a cancer on society and we cannot allow it to be terminal.
"Unarmed officers are sitting ducks when trying to tackle the increased gun crime in this country that is out of control.
"Armed criminals have complete disrespect and my colleague has paid the ultimate price for trying to make society a safer place. This indiscriminate murder yet again begs the question, when do we fully arm the British police service?"
Conservative MP Roger Gale said the UK had to face the choice between reintroducing the death penalty and further arming the police force.
However, a spokesman the Police Federation of England and Wales said its members were overwhelmingly opposed to the routine arming of police offers.
In a survey carried out in April 2003, nearly 80 per cent of officers said they would be against such a move.
Police in Italy, France, Germany and the U.S. all carry guns.
