Rhondor Dowlat-Rostant
Three suspects, who police were told had weapons with them in a vehicle, were shot dead during an alleged police-involved shooting in Morvant on Saturday.
One of the men has been identified as Joel Jacob but the two other suspects were yet to be positively identified up to last night.
According to a police report, at about 2.15 pm a party of officers, including Sgt Solomon, Cpls Phillips, Budri, PCs Billingy, Weekes, Furlonge, St Cyr, Baptiste, Cummings and Mohammed, together with Guard and Emergency Branch members were heading east along Juman Drive at Second Caledonia, Morvant, in search of the men after receiving information that men were seen in a brown motorcar.
On reaching near the Auto Guru building, the officers saw the vehicle proceeding west along the road. The officers manoeuvred their vehicle to force the suspects’ car to stop. The officers then got out their vehicle and approached the suspects’ vehicle, which had the driver, a front passenger and another in the passenger seat. Police said on moving closer to the vehicle, the man in the back seat got out, looked at the approaching officers, quickly got back into the vehicle, reached for a firearm and opened fire on them. The officers returned fire, hitting all three suspects in the car.
Police subsequently took the three wounded suspects to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where they later succumbed to their injuries. The officers recovered and seized a black beretta pistol with a quantity of ammunition from the back seat of the car.
The scene was visited by a party of officers, including Insp Morales, Insp Alexis from the Guard and Emergency Branch, officers from the Morvant Police Station and Crime Scene Investigation Unit officers.
The car was wrecked and taken for further forensic analysis.
The shooting came hours after police officer Allen Moseley was shot and killed in the area.
However, Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith last night denied social media reports that claimed the suspects were linked to the officer’s murder. Griffith said the shooting occurred during an anti-crime exercise and had “nothing to verify that it is being linked to the officer’s killing.” He, however, noted that the killing of the suspects would not come as a celebration, as they have families as well, but noted that once his officers come under fire they will be left with no other choice but to use equal force.
