Suspended cop held in shooting, robbery

A SUSPENDED Special Reserve Policeman (SRP) was up to late yesterday being interrogated in connection with the shooting of a Highway Patrol officer and a robbery at a Tunapuna furniture store which occurred earlier in the day.

Reports are that around 12.15 pm, four armed men, three of whom were armed with cutlasses, the other with a .380 Baretta pistol, entered Ramsaroop’s Furniture Store, Eastern Main Road, El Dorado. Police said the men announced a hold-up, then placed a gun to the head of proprietor, Basdeo Ramsaroop, 67.  The bandits then robbed the store of $22,000.

A passerby spotted the commotion and contacted Emergency-999, after which Highway Patrol officers, PCs Edric Jeremy and Bassant, responded. The two officers confronted the bandits and police said the gunman shot PC Jeremy on the right thigh.  The officers returned fire, but the four bandits escaped in two vehicles, one a red B13 Sentra, the other a B12.  However, the B13, in which there were two occupants, crashed about 200 metres from where the robbery incident occurred. That vehicle is believed by the police to have been stolen from taxi driver Michael Ramsahai in the St Augustine area on Friday night, when Ramsahai was abducted. 

A party of officers under acting Cpl Ramrattan Jugmohan and including PCs Raymond Thom and Nigel De Silva of the St Joseph and Tunapuna Criminal Investigations Department (CID) respon-ded after hearing a transmission from the Emergency-999 Command Centre in St James. After the melee, police said the alleged gunman, a 32-year-old SRP, was held with a .380 Baretta pistol. He reportedly screamed out to officers not to shoot him. He was taken to the Tunapuna CID, while his three accomplices escaped and had not been caught up to late evening.

Senior officers under Sr Supt Rodvan Bastien, acting Supt Leon Anthony, ASP Errol Dillon, acting Insp Bullen and Sgt Garrick responded later.  Police sources said the SRP, who has approximately 12 years service, has been on suspension for about five years, and has six matters for robbery-related offences pending. The SRP is also said to be fitting the description of one of the men who held up and robbed the St Augustine branch of Mario’s Pizzeria on Friday night. Meantime, PC Jeremy, police said, is resting comfortably at the Mount Hope Medical Sciences Complex, although the bullet is still lodged in his leg. Acting Cpl Jugmohan of the Tunapuna CID is continuing investigations.