Cop: Seerattan fired first

CORONER Sherman McNicolls yesterday heard from PC Gary Moore that he (Moore)  returned fire at Phillip Seerattan only  after the teenager had fired the first shot. Moore is one of the subjects of the inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death of Seerattan. Seerattan, then 17, was fatally shot during an exchange of gunfire with police at the International School, Westmoorings, on November 20, 2002. He had earlier entered the school’s compound armed with his father’s Smith and Wesson pistol and shot a security guard. The inquest is being heard at the Port-of-Spain Eighth Magistrates’ Court.

According to Moore, when they arrived at the school on the day in question, one of the school’s security guards had directed him and his partner, WPC Suad Weekes, to the upstairs area of the school where Seerattan was supposedly hiding. When they got to the top of the stairs, he said, he looked through a glass pane next to the door of the computer room and he observed Seerattan and a student in the room. Seerattan, who apparently had not seen the police, was sitting in a swivel chair and talking on a telephone. The student, he said, identified himself as a student by silently drawing the officers’ attention to the monogram on his shirt. Moore said he tried to open the door but it was locked. He then attempted to kick down the door while simultaneously shouting “police.” Weekes, he said, was standing to the left of him. The door did not open with the kick, he said, but Seerattan had been alerted of the police presence and had put down the phone. Moore said he saw Seerattan reach for a firearm that was lying approximately two feet away from  his (Seerattan’s) feet. “I did not see the firearm before then,” he added. At that point, the student, with a look of fear, opened the door and ran out of the room, he said, and Seerattan had by then pointed the pistol at him and had fired a shot.

“I realised my life was in danger, I turned off the safety lock on my firearm and opened fire,” Moore said. “I did not take cover, I just knelt and opened fire,” he added. “I saw when he fell. He was facing me. He fell backwards and his firearm was still in his right hand,” Moore continued. According to Moore, the MP5 he (Moore) was carrying had been held at his side and had been on safety mode until Seerattan shot at him and Weekes. Moore said he and Weekes then entered the room, he took the firearm from Seerattan’s hand and removed the ammunition. Seerattan was still breathing at the time, he said. He then placed the pistol in a clear ziploc bag that was given to him by Weekes, Moore said, and handed the bag and its contents to Sgt Ramsubhag. He later handed his MP5 and 18 rounds of ammunition to the investigating officer, ASP Badall. 

Under examination by his attorney, Martin George, Moore maintained that he had exercised  caution throughout the entire ordeal. “I only returned fire when his firearm was pointed at me. I felt threatened,” he said. “I had a duty as a police officer to protect the life of Ms Weekes when a shot was fired in our direction,” he added. Prior to announcing the February 10 adjournment, McNicolls asked Moore to demonstrate to the court the physical position assumed by Seerattan when he retrieved the firearm from the floor. Moore obliged and added that the teenager had “dived” off the chair for the pistol. Attorney Patricia Roberts is seeking the interest of the Seerattan family and Lydia Mendonca is representing the school.