Cops await tests to see if RBTT guard killed burglar

AN autopsy carried out on Thursday on the body of career burglar Fitzroy Malcolm, 42, who was shot to death on the roof of the St Clair home of RBTT Chairman Peter July on Tuesday night, confirmed that he died of gunshot wounds.

However, the police probe into the fatal shooting is continuing with investigators awaiting the results of ballistic tests to determine the calibre of the slugs retrieved from Malcolm’s chest and abdomen. Sources said the findings of these ballistic tests could prove vital to their investigations, since an RBTT guard who confronted Malcolm at July’s home on Tuesday night claims he did not fire the shots which killed Malcolm.

Sources said the results of the ballistic tests should show if the bullets were fired from the security guard’s gun or from another. The guard’s .38 revolver and five spent shells have been seized by the police who also recorded a statement from him. Police also seized a firearm belonging to a neighbour of the Julys. The autopsy carried out by Pathologist Dr Hughvon des Vignes at the Forensic Sciences Centre yesterday revealed that Malcolm died of shock and haemorrhage consistent with multiple gunshot wounds. Malcolm was found prowling around the yard of July’s home on Tuesday night by RBTT security guards. One of the guards said he fired a warning shot in the air, and Malcolm climbed onto the roof of the house. Moments later, three more shots were heard and Malcolm slumped to the roof where he eventually bled to death.

Police sources told Newsday that if the security guard was telling the truth and did not fire the fatal shots, investigations would now centre on trying to find out who did, since no one has come forward to say they did the shooting. Contacted for comment yesterday, a spokesman from the Cor-porate Communica-tions Department of RBTT said the shooting incident was not the subject of a police investigation and the bank was not in a position to make any statements. Malcolm has been described by police as a career burglar whose criminal record included 19 previous convictions for burglary and ten cases pending before the Magistrates Courts. St Clair detectives’ Ag Insp McEwen Allen and Sgt Glen Hackett are spearheading investigations.