DPP decision on shooting today

Late yesterday, lead investigator Supt Martin Morrain was making arrangements to hand over the police file to the DPP. Newsday learnt that the police may recommend an inquest be held into the shooting death. This recommendation came about after consultation between senior police officers and attorneys. The file contains statements from eyewitnesses to the shooting and the only document missing, sources said, is a ballistic report from an expert based at the Forensic Sciences Centre in Federation Park, St James. The Coast Guard officer who shot and killed Mohammed resumed duties on Tuesday and has undergone counselling for depression. Police investigators denied a newspaper report that Mohammed was kept in a boat for four hours, before he was taken for treatment at Port-of-Spain General Hospital.

Investigators told Newsday that after Mohammed was shot, an ambulance driver was already at the Port-of-Spain port waiting to rush Mohammed to hospital. The investigation being carried out by the Defence Force is also expected to be completed by the end of the week.

Mohammed was shot in the head two Fridays ago while fishing in the Gulf of Paria. He spent a week at the Intensive Care Unit before succumbing to his injuries at 6.15 pm last Friday.