Ex-con killed in shootout with police

Sydney Carter, 25, was killed in a shootout with police outside the Port-of-Spain lighthouse yesterday while his accomplice escaped through the mangrove across the highway. At around 11.30 am yesterday, Carter and another man were travelling south along lower Frederick street in the vicinity of the Public Transport Service Corporation terminal in a Nissan B15,  when they were confronted by a car full of plainclothes officers. The officers motioned Carter to stop and instead were greeted by gunfire. The cops responded by returning fire, hitting the driver’s side of the car. The B15 crossed the median of the Beetham Highway, and it crashed into the pavement. One man ran out along the coastline into the mangrove opposite the lighthouse. When police got to the car, Carter was found slumped over the steering wheel with bullet wounds to his head and body. The area was immediately cordoned off.

While the cops did not venture to go into the mangrove, a squad of armed task force officers went into the nearby Sea Lots area in a futile search for the man. Several senior officers, including Ag Commissioner of Police Everald Snaggs, who were at the time attending Remembrance Day celebrations at Memorial Park, visited the scene in ceremonial wear. In a press release, the top cop explained that police, after several weeks of investigation and surveillance, had received information about the planned robbery of a Lotto machine booth in Port-of-Spain by Carter and his associates. Acting on the information, police followed the car and on interception were greeted by gunfire. Investigations by Newsday have confirmed the car  was stolen sometime earlier yesterday in Arima and was to be used in several robberies. Investigations also revealed the Beetham Gardens ex-convict, who has 15 pending charges, was wanted for the kidnapping of Iswhar Maharaj, the son of Arima businessman Balliram Maharaj, earlier this year.