Postby risley93 » May 13th, 2011, 9:55 am
NATIONAL Security Minister Brigadier John Sandy last night expressed shock and sadness on learning of the shooting death of a police constable from the Rio Claro Police Station’s Task Force Unit, who was killed during an exchange of gunfire with suspected marijuana cultivators in the Cuche Forests yesterday. Two of the suspects were reportedly shot and killed.
Police constable Narie Persad was airlifted from the forests to the San Fernando General Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival by doctors. He was shot in the chest and stomach, police sources said.
“This is horrible. I am very concerned. The first thing I asked, on learning of the shooting, is if the officer was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time. Things were so chaotic, I did not get an answer. I am now awaiting a report and I am so saddened that a police officer was killed in the line of duty. My condolences to his family,” Sandy said during a brief interview with Newsday.
According to a police source, the incident occurred at about 1.30 pm in the forests when a party of officers on a marijuana eradication exercise, came across a field of the illegal herb. The 11 officers were met with gunfire from three men hiding in the marijuana field and took cover, returning gunfire.
Two suspects were shot multiple times and are believed to have been killed. Up to last night, police were searching the forests for their bodies. During the exchange of gunfire, PC Persad shouted out that he had been shot.
A National Security helicoptre was summoned via wireless radio transmission and the badly bleeding officer was airlifted out of the forests. But it was too late. He died while being taken to hospital. Police sources said two guns were recovered in the marijuana field. An autopsy is expected to be carried out on Persad’s body today at the Forensic Science Centre in St James.
Persad lived in Orange Valley, Couva. According to his weeping female relative, who asked not to be identified and who was at the San Fernando General Hospital last night, Persad was married and a father of two young children.
The woman, who sat on a chair at the Accident and Emergency Department, where she waited to see the body, appeared to be in a state of shock and said she did not know the details of the shooting incident. Investigations are continuing.
NEWSDAY
R.I.P Naree
