"ONE of the police officers was holding a black automatic pistol in his left hand. They held it down to him and unloaded five shots into him.

I saw it. He's dead. Five shots, he's dead."

That was the graphic account of MarkWhitby, a passenger on the Tube train that pulled into Stockwell station in south London at around 10am yesterday.

Armed police hunting four bombing suspects, had chased a man through the station. He was said to be of Asian appearance and wearing a baseball cap and a heavy coat.

Commuters then watched in horror as police knocked him to the floor and shot him five times at point-blank range, killing him instantly.

Some witnesses said officers shot him twice in the head and three times in the torso. Others said he was shot five times in the head.

The suspect had been seen by others leaping over barriers at Stockwell station before being wrestled to the f loor as he ran on to a Northern Line train.

The Metropolitan Police yesterday confirmed that they shot a man who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sources said that the shot man was not thought to be one of four bomb suspects shown in CCTV images released by police yesterday.

Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police commissioner, later said officers fired after the man was challenged and refused to obey orders.

Mr Whitby, told how he heard people shouting, "get down, get down",

after the doors of his train opened.

"It was no more than five yards away from where I was sitting, " he said.

"As the man got on the train I looked at his face. He looked from left to right, but he basically looked like a cornered rabbit. . .He looked absolutely petrified.

"He half-tripped, was halfpushed to the f loor. The policeman nearest to me had the black automatic pistol in his left hand, he held it down to the guy and unloaded five shots into him.

"I was just worried about bullets flying around.

"People were running in all directions . . . screaming, a lot of screaming from women, absolute mayhem.

"Lots of people sort of crouched down, trying to run but in a crouched position, me included, trying to protect their heads, worried about flying bullets. It was a very, very distressing sight to watch, and to hear as well.

And that smell of cordite. . ."

He added: "I've never seen anything like it in my life. I saw them kill a man basically.

I saw them shoot a man five times.

As Mr Whitby had been helping an elderly woman off the train, another

10 to 15 police officers with pistols and sub-machine guns ran on.

When he got up to the ticket hall, he was offered counselling by police and Tube staff.

He said the shot suspect was wearing "a coat like you would wear in winter, a sort of padded jacket. Maybe he might have had something concealed under there, I don't know.

"But it looked out of place in the weather we've been having. He was quite large, big built, quite a sort of chubby guy."

The witness said later he was "totally distraught".

It was a absolute nightmare.

I'm just waiting for the pubs to open to be quite honest - nice stiff Scotch, " he said.

Another passenger on the train, Anthony Larkin, believed the man had been wearing a "bomb belt with wires coming out".

"I've seen these police officers shouting, 'Get down, get down!', " he said. "People were panicking and I heard shots being fired."

Chris Martin, a journalist, said he was waiting on the northbound Northern Line platform at Stockwell station and a train had pulled in when several men burst on to the platform about 20 yards from him.

"There was a lot of shouting, I thought it was football fans or something, " he said.

"Then I heard shots, I thought it was three but someone else said five.

"It sounded like a silencer gun going off, and then there was blind panic, with people shouting and screaming and just running away.

"I didn't actually see the gun, but I heard this 'bang, bang, bang'.

"When I left the station, a guy called Mark who had been on the train said they had shot the man dead, no doubt about it."

Londoner Dan Copeland, who was in the carriage in which the man was shot, said:

"We were sitting for a few minutes on the platform, then we heard shouting from the concourse between the two platforms.

"Then the man burst in through the door to my right and grabbed hold of the pole and a person by the glass partition near the door, diagonally opposite me.

"An officer jumped in the door to my left and screamed, 'everybody out'.

"People just froze in their seats cowering for a few seconds and then leapt up.

"As I turned out the door on to the platform, I heard four dull bangs."

Chris Wells, a 28-year-old company manager, said he saw about 20 police officers, some of them armed, rushing into Stockwell station before a man jumped over the barriers with police giving chase.

He said: "There were at least 20 of them (officers) and they were carrying big black guns.

"The next thing I saw was this guy jump over the barriers and the police officers were chasing after him and everyone was just shouting 'get out, get out'."

Christine Burgess, a 56year-old accountant, said the shooting was the second security alert she had been caught up in yesterday morning.

She said: "I was on a Tube train at Kennington when we were told to get off and we saw a suspicious person with a bag taken away from the carriage I was in.

"After leaving the station, I decided to get on the 155 bus to try and get home and we had just got to Stockwell when we stopped.

"Another driver came on to our bus and said police had just shot a suicide bomber in Stockwell station.

"I was still looking out of the window and saw them bring out the black zip-up bag and that must have been the person involved."

Christopher Scaglione, 35, a fashion designer, was also on a Victoria Line train shortly before the incident.

He said: "The train didn't stop at Vauxhall and so I got out at Stockwell. I was just on my way out when I heard at first a little bang, not like a bomb, more like a gun, and then people were shouting.

"People then started to run and I heard two or three more bangs, like people shooting."

Police cordoned off a 200metre area around Stockwell station following the shooting and passengers were evacuated.

Teams of forensic officers were working inside the station and services on the Victoria and Northern Lines were suspended following a request by the police.

A London Ambulance Service spokesman said an air ambulance, an ambulance and a duty station officer had been sent to Stockwell after an emergency call.

Scaffolding was erected around the entrance to the Tube station while at least 20 police officers were guarding the scene.

Many local people stood at the edge of the police cordon unable to reach their homes and the streets remained deserted of moving vehicles at one of the busiest junctions in south London.