Mentally ill man shot dead

According to reports, at 12.30 pm police and soldiers on Henry Street, Port of Spain were told a passenger on a PTSC bus near Henry Street on South Quay was behaving violently. They responded and the bus driver asked the man identified as Edison Thompson, 45, of Princes Town, to get off the bus. He refused, changed his mind and began running around Henry Street with a hammer in his pocket.

The joint team of police and soldiers tried to subdue Thompson, but he is reported to have taken out the hammer from his waist and attacked Lance Cpl Miller of the Defence Force. Miller shot Thompson who fell to the ground. The shooting was witnessed by scores of people on Henry Street. Some protested while others said the officer did the correct thing by shooting Thompson to subdue him. Thompson was taken to the PoS General Hospital and was warded in critical condition.

Medical sources revealed that he had suffered a ruptured bladder.

Police and soldiers who witnessed the shooting were asked yesterday by senior officers to submit reports on the incident. Naval Captain Hayden Pritchard, the acting Chief of Defence Staff, said he was aware of the incident and is awaiting a report before he could issue a statement through the public relations branch of the TTDF.

Newsday understands that soldiers are not trained to deal with mentally ill persons.