Police are still searching for a third man who they believe was shot but escaped following a shootout with police in Santa Cruz on Thursday. They are yet to identify the second man who was killed during the shootout. Members of the North-Eastern Division Task Force were on patrol along Saddle Road, Santa Cruz, when they received a report that three men in a gold-coloured Toyota Corolla were breaking into homes near Francis Street.
When police arrived at the location they saw the car which quickly sped off. After a chase, the occupants of the car began shooting at the police who returned fire. The car crashed near the Water and Sewerage Authority pumping station close to Jaggan Village.
Police said the occupants again fired at the police who returned fire and fatally shot Abba Diaz, 25, of Blackford Street, Santa Cruz. The other two occupants were also shot. The unidentified dead man was the driver, police said. The man who escaped had pending gun-related offences before the Port-of-Spain Magistrates Court, police said. Two guns, a .38 revolver and one .40 calibre Smith and Wesson pistol, were recovered at the scene.