Photographer Who Took Mumbai Attacker Picture: 'I Wish I'd Had A Gun Not A Camera'

Belfast Telegraph:

It is the photograph that has dominated the world's front pages, casting an astonishing light on the fresh-faced killers who brought terror to the heart of India's most vibrant city. Now it can be revealed how the astonishing picture came to be taken by a newspaper photographer who hid inside a train carriage as gunfire erupted all around him.

Sebastian D'Souza, a picture editor at the Mumbai Mirror, whose offices are just opposite the city's Chhatrapati Shivaji station, heard the gunfire erupt and ran towards the terminus. "I ran into the first carriage of one of the trains on the platform to try and get a shot but couldn't get a good angle, so I moved to the second carriage and waited for the gunmen to walk by," he said. "They were shooting from waist height and fired at anything that moved. I briefly had time to take a couple of frames using a telephoto lens. I think they saw me taking photographs but theydidn't seem to care."

Read the whole story: Belfast Telegraph

Comments

[brooklyncitizen]

It's interesting the commentary about the Indian police. One thing that struck me about Indian security when I travelled there is there no-nonsense aggressiveness and alertness. When flying from Aurangabad to New Dehli we went through security and then right before boarding our on the tarmac was another security force doing a second check. They were heavily armed and people had to opne bags and some were bodily searched. I remmber being struck by the contrast between them and our lame TSA that focuses on whetehr we hav toothpaste or not. THe Indian authorities mean business.

[BeeOplentee]

Of course, the Indian authorities were bold with you because you weren't carrying an AK loaded for bear.

[brendanm]

I imagine it must have been extremely frustrating to see this going on but be unable to intervene. I would certainly want to do something, even if I was a journalist or photographer.

[cmk1967]

Guns are loud, they must not have wanted to hurt their ears.

Don't think you would have the problem with the cops here not wanting to shoot.

[vmonter]

That's the consequence of putting your personal protection in the hands of others. People vote away their ability to bear arms, then they are victimized by people who have them. How stupid can you get?

Be trained - be prepared
Freedom is not free

[wadenelson1]

Aside from the Revolutionary war, can you give me an example of when freedom wasn't free in America?

American blood may have paid for the freedom of the British and Europeans in WW's I and II, but that was our choice.

Whose freedom did the blood spilled in Vietnam, Somalia, or Iraq pay for?

It's a nice catchphrase, why don't you tell us what it really means to you?

[sdskelton03]

How about the civil war? 600,000 Americans died in that one. Both sides were defending what they thought was freedom.

[S1m0n]

Talked to any natives, lately?

[RebelPatriot]

It was the Soviets that won WW2 in Europe.

No?

Who had all the land afterwards?

[Radarman]

How about the Franco-American Naval War between the United States and France in 1798. The French were capturing our ships and crews. So the freedom of those citizens of the US was lost. We bought it back with blood and battle.

The War of 1812 where the Brits took Baltimore and burned the White House. If we had lost we would still be using the Pound. Freedom purchased again.

Mexican-American War restored freedom to those US citizens living in TX.

The Civil War purchased the freedom of how many? We paid a heck of a butchers bill for it though.

The Spanish American war brought U.S Citizenship to those in Puerto Rico, and Guam. They are probably happy we purchased their freedoms for them.

WWI does bring in a twist. Since the Germans were sinking our ships and killing our citizens that should count as a good enough cause to fight for, but the secret treaty between Germany and Mexico was the basic cause for our joining the fight. Germany told Mexico they would get help in attacking the US and taking back the South West. So if we had not fought we could have lost a large part of our country.

WWII, Remember Pearl Harbor! Not our choice, Nuf said.

None of the wars afterward are Wars, most of them fall into the gray zone for value purchased with blood and battle. I do find it interesting once we stopped declaring war the values changed.

[AmandaBC]

Riiiiiiiiiiiight, like there never was a shooting rampage with a legally-purchased weapon...

[NorthernCross]

Non sequitur, sweetie.

[punk]

While defending yourself, the cops will think YOU are the terrorist, and you would be shot. In situations like this, there's no way to know who's the good guy, or the bad guy.

[NorthernCross]

You mean as opposed to just being unarmed and allowing these cretins to turn you into swiss cheese? You can choose to be that way if you want. Personally, if someone had an AK aimed at my family, I'd be willing to risk friendly fire from a cop who may or may not be around.

[punk]

You would be shot by the police if you defended yourself. That's because, in the confusion of the violence, nobody knows who is a killer, and who is defending himself.

[sdskelton03]

The government (police) acted as cowards.

[Radarman]

Are you saying it is better to be shot by the terrorist on purpose than shot by the police by accident? I'll take my chances defending myself than wait for someone else to maybe step up and defend me.

[NorthernCross]

That presumes there's a cop around. In the initial stages of the attack, there may not have been any.

[Mystic01]

"Freedom is not free"

This is getting to be such an awful, tired cliche.

[NorthernCross]

If you've had freedom all your life, then I can see why you could feel that way. If you ever get a chance to live abroad in a country that doesn't value personal freedom in the same way that Americans do, then you may learn a few things about the world.

[KoolBreez]

Were the police really armed though? With something other than batons? Did they have a handgun or a bolt action 303? I have seen footage of Indian police firing during the Parliament attack..

[NoDubya]

Yeah, most Indian police DO NOT CARRY firearms, only batons like English police. Some of the higher ranking ones carry guns, hence why they were likely ducking like everyone else.

[brendanm]

The photographer says many of the police were armed, which they would be if they were guarding such an important location.

[hacksaw]

Pictures from the Mumbai Attack

http://luqmaninbmore.blogspot.com/2008/11/pictures-from-mumbai-attack.html

Notice the red cord on his right wrist. Tying a red thread or cord around the wrist is a Hindu practice and it is unlikely a Muslim, especially one politicized enough to carry out an attack such as this, would observe it. I think this provides more evidence that this was a false flag operation or at least an attack by a non-Muslim group.

[punk]

As Indian television said, the people in those photos might be undercover police officers.

[NoDubya]

They came from Karachi, Pakistan. There are no hindu terrorists in Pakistan.

[randyjet]

Actually, they were probably Muslims trying to LOOK like Hindus. If they tried this stunt in Texas, they would last just a few minutes since we have a concealed weapons law. Lots of us have them and are armed and many of us are veterans too.

[fussygorilla]

No wonder Texas is known as the "cowboy land" where they gave us Bushy boy.

[brendanm]

The Hindu terrorists in India attack Muslim targets, not Western or Hindu ones.

[shanester]

Very scary but the real story is why the police did not do their civic duty and defend innocent and unamred cvilians being shot at regardless of their nationality.

This will cause outrage around the world.!

This reminds me of some of the things we heard about during the worst days of the Iraq war!

Shiite & Sunni militia groups would target innocent civilians and some members of the so called "Iraqi Army" stood by and did nothing.

What's going on here??

[max]

India is going on here......it's not like here friend

[RebelPatriot]

Really?

ever see Columbine? swarms of jackbooted idiots playing dress-up SWAT waited hours to go into the buildings and sweep for the 2 gunmen.

this mentality is not uncommon.

[NoDubya]

Most Indian police carry batons, not guns.

[JumpingCholla]

What a brave man Mr. D'Souza is! What was going on with the policemen? Were they in on the plot? All of them? That's hard to believe. I hope they find out why they didn't try to stop the attackers. What are they there for anyway?

[frodo42]

I hope they investigate the claim that the police just stood by and did nothing. This is unbelievable.

[max]

it's not surprising in India

[robXdion]

Their police and military look like Keystone Cops. They're either laughably incompetent or conspiring with the terrorists given the police vehicles used and advanced organization.

[notb observer]

Were the police at the train station too frightened to fire back at the attackers or were they simply not trained to deal with such situations ? Maybe they were somehow involved and had agreed not to interfere.
I can see one or 2 policemen freezing up when faced with such an unexpected event, but all of them ? Surely in order to get their gun and badge they all have had some basic amount of training in dealing with a shooter.
This is incredible !