CHRIS KABA’S grieving family have condemned “offensive” reports in the press, arguing that allegations about their loved one’s past are not relevant to why he was shot dead by police. 

The rapper and aspiring architect was shot and killed by a firearms officer in Streatham Hill, south London, earlier this month. He was 24 and soon to become a father for the first time. 

A homicide investigation has been launched by the Independent Office for Police Misconduct into the incident, and the police officer involved has been suspended. 

At the weekend, Mr Kaba’s family released a statement responding to “media speculation” about his alleged criminal record in the years before his death. 

Ms Kaba’s cousin Jefferson Bosela said reports were a “distraction” from the question of how an unarmed black man was shot dead by a police officer on the streets of London. 

“It is extremely distressing to read offensive media allegations about Chris’s past,” Mr Bosela said.

“We have no idea whether the claims are correct, but we can’t see how they are relevant to the police’s decision to shoot Chris dead.

“There are very limited circumstances in which the police can use force.

“When a person is killed as a result of that use of force, their death must be fully and properly investigated, no matter what the people involved may — or may not have — done in their past.

“Chris was a loving son, caring brother, excited father-to-be and a young man with so much potential. His family and friends will always remember him that way.”

It’s understood that the 24-year-old had previously served a four-year jail sentence after being convicted of possessing an imitation firearm. 

The family’s statement was issued following a Telegraph article published last week detailing more offences allegedly committed by Mr Kaba after his release from jail. 

Inquest director Deborah Coles said there has been a “long history of the authorities and sections of the media attempting to demonise the dead.”

On the media allegations, she said: “This is an attempt to detract from legitimate public concern about police use of lethal force against a black man.”