Soldier shot dead

SHARLENE RAMPERSAD

YEARS of quarrels and fights between members of two families came to a boil yesterday when a fight between a group of men ended with two of them being shot. One of the victims, a soldier, later died of his wounds.

Ravi Pooran who was in the thick of the melee, was shot in his stomach and up to press time, was warded in a critical condition awaiting emergency surgery. Shocked relatives who gathered at the hospital said that there are a number of reports lodged at the Gasparillo police station about the warring factions.

Unconfirmed reports are that Military Police Sgt Ken Palmer was involved in a heated altercation with a group of men related to his in-laws near his Dhalo Street, Gasparillo home, when at about 6.30 pm, one of the combatants pulled out a gun and fired several shots.

As Palmer and Pooran slumped to the ground, the gunman ran off and up to press time, was still at large. Palmer, police said, died at the scene while Pooran was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital for treatment.

Palmer’s body was removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James where an autopsy will be done today. He is the 113th person murdered for this year.

There were unconfirmed reports that Sgt Palmer had armed himself with a length of steel during the argument.

Chief of Defence Staff, Commodore Hayden Pritchard was informed of the soldier’s murder and a report was being prepared for him last evening. For the same period last year, 100 murders were committed. Homicide Investigations Bureau (Region III) detectives are continuing investigations.