Venezuelan woman freed of gun charges

A 21-YEAR-OLD Venezuelan woman who was wounded in an alleged shootout with police in March, yesterday walked out of the Port of Spain Magistrates Court a free woman after arms and ammunition charges were dismissed.

It was determined the prosecution did not present any evidence against law student Monika Jerez-Gonzalez. The dismissal was the final chapter in an ordeal that began at the end of May, when Jerez-Gonzalez was caught in a shootout with police, after her friend Marco Antonio Gonzalez broke through a roadblock in Diego Martin.

At about 11.30 pm on the day in question, police were responding to an all-points bulletin about a black Toyota Yaris whose occupants failed to comply when police stopped them at the roadblock. Police said they intercepted the car near St Lucien Road and were shot at as they approached. Officers returned fire, killing Gonzales and wounding Jerez-Gonzalez.