AS police investigators continue their search for the men who shot and killed Peter Garcia, family members of the murder accused remained tight-lipped over who may have pulled the trigger.
’Even if I know who the shooter is, I can’t talk or I will be dead too,’ Garcia’s father, Harvey Huggins, said yesterday. ’I know where all of this came from. This is something that can’t done,’ he said.
Garcia was shot several times after his appearance before a magistrate in the Rio Claro court on Monday. He had been charged with murder and wounding with intent to commit murder.
A silver-coloured Nissan Almera, similar to the one the killers used to make their escape, has been impounded on the compound of the Rio Claro Police Station. The car was stopped in a road block at the Guayaguayare bridge. An occupant of the car is being questioned, investigators said yesterday.
The two officers who were escorting Garcia from the Rio Claro Magistrates’ Court when the shooting occurred were also assisting.
They were expected to help a police artist build profiles of the two suspects.
President of the Police Social and Welfare Association Emrol Bruce said counselling will also be provided for these officers.
’An evaluation of the officers will have to be done,’ Bruce said, before it is determined whether the men may be sent on leave. The police constables ran after the first gunshots were fired by the two men, who pretended to be construction workers.
Operations continued at the magistrates’ court yesterday. President of the Magistrates’ Association of Trinidad and Tobago Lucina Cardenas-Ragoonanan said walking of prisoners to and from the court in full view of the public has always been an issue at the Rio Claro Magistrates’ Court.
’This location is one of the more challenging in relation to security,’ she said in a telephone interview yesterday. She also mentioned the Chaguanas, Couva and Siparia courts, where a similar practice has been adopted.
’The prisoners have to be walked and they are exposed,’ she said.
Cardenas-Ragoonanan worked at the Rio Claro court for two years. She said even the magistrate is at risk.
She suggested there be more police officers available to bring the prisoners to the courts, especially high-risk prisoners. ’There should be better policing in the transport of prisoners,’ she said.
