A jury on Wednesday agreed with the police version of events, that the officer who shot 28-year-old Yassar Yaqub feared for his life. Jurors heard the officer, who during the case is only referred to as V39 to protect his identity, shot Yaqub after he thought he was reaching for a gun. Outside court, Yaqoob’s father Mohammed Yaqoob, who was present for every day of the six-week inquest, said it had “been like a nightmare” and that the verdict was “hard to digest”. He said: “Everything was open and it just didn’t add up. I don’t think it was a legal murder.” He said he had spoken to families who had faced similar battles and knew the chance of anything other than a statutory homicide verdict was slim. “Almost none of them got anywhere, so we were no exception. We need time to see where we go from here, but it is certainly not the end,” he said. “Every day was like a nightmare. But it is something that, as a father, I owe to my son.” The inquest heard that Yassar Yaqub was the front seat passenger in one of two cars traveling in a convoy on January 2, 2017. Four unmarked police vehicles surrounded the two cars at junction 24 near Huddersfield after police were tipped off that Yacoub was a “very active criminal”. Yakub died of “catastrophic blood loss” after being hit by two bullets fired from a distance of 1.5 meters from the V39. Police recovered a gun from the car’s floor. The officer told the inquest that Yakub ignored the command to “show me your hands” and appeared to “lean down” and pick up a gun. The officer said he had no alternative but to shoot Yakub through the front windshield of the car as he feared for his life. Michael Mansfield KC, representing Yaqub’s family, argued that V39 had made a mistake and that if Yaqub had crouched it would not have been possible to shoot him. He said: “It’s pretty clear if someone’s crouched, he’s leaning and leaning to his right, if that’s what he did, he’s going under the mound on the board.” Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Jurors were told their job during the inquest was to determine what happened the night of the shooting and that they were the “judges of fact.” They were reminded that it was not a trial. The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Guy Kearl KC, told the jury they could only return an open verdict or a statutory killing. They were not allowed to return a verdict of unlawful killing as there was insufficient evidence to draw that conclusion. A statutory manslaughter verdict means the jury decided Yaqub was killed in self-defense or in defense of others, based on the probabilities. The jury found that the officer genuinely believed that the use of force was necessary and that the level of force was appropriate for the situation. During the inquest, jurors heard from witnesses and were shown photographs, diagrams and CCTV footage. The inquest also heard from Yaqub’s family, including his daughter Jasmine, who was 11 when he was shot. She said: “I miss my father more than anything. His presence made me so happy. I wanted to be with him forever, but now all I have are memories and pictures, which I will keep forever. “My dad always encouraged me to focus on my dreams, but since he passed away it’s been really hard, especially at school.” Zoe Summers, Yaqub’s partner and mother of his two children, said: “I always felt lucky to have Yassar in my life, especially while we were growing up. He had such a kind, loving nature and only wanted the best for the people around him.”