One day after he was released on bail for possession of marijuana, police shot and killed a 24-year-old Morvant man on Tuesday night after a shootout with two men. Police said around 10.45 pm on Monday, officers from the North Eastern Division Task Force, led by Sgt Cornelius Samuel, were on mobile patrol at Mapp Lands, Morvant, when they saw two men walking along the street.
Investigators said without warning the two pulled out guns and began shooting at them. The officers returned fire, police said. A man, later identified as Adrian Charles, from Chinapoo Village, Morvant, was found lying on the ground bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The other man escaped by running through nearby bushes, police said.
Charles is the seventh man to be killed by police for the year, according to a T&T Guardian toll. Police said they returned to the area where the shooting took place yesterday and found a bulletproof vest and a 9 mm pistol with an extended magazine capable of holding 32 rounds of ammunition, with nine rounds in it. They believe the man who escaped may have thrown away the gun and vest while running away. An autopsy is expected to be done on Charles’s body today at the Forensic Science Centre, St James.
2014 police killings
• Jeremy Innis, 19, shot dead on March 11 at Gloster Lodge Road, Gonzales, in a police shootout.
• Anthony “Sambo” Hepburn, 25, killed at his Sookhoo Trace Extension, Claxton Bay, home on February 11 during a shootout.
• Akeem Price, 22, of Le Chateau Village, killed after a robbery at Mt Moriah on February 4.
• Nicholas Sylvester, 19, killed on January 20 at Chaguanas Main Road after a robbery at Chrissie Terrace, Enterprise, Chaguanas.
• Walcott Ali, 51, shot dead after reportedly attacking police with a cutlass at Aranguez on January 15.
• Janus Alfonso, 28, shot dead during a shootout after police sought to execute a warrant on him at his Clarke Trace, Enterprise, home on January 10.