Cop’s murder...a hit from behind bars

PC Kryston Ramirez.
PC Kryston Ramirez.

HOMICIDE Investigations Bureau investigators probing the murder Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB) officer PC Kryston Ramirez at a Carapo bar on Sunday, are working on information that his killing was ordered from behind prison walls by a high-risk prisoner.

Senior officers yesterday said that a 16-year-old schoolboy was initially thought to be involved in the murder but new information came to hand and the teen was not picked up for questioning. As such, the search is continuing for the two men who killed Ramirez.

Sources said that PC Ramirez ordered a woman out of the Classy Bar in Carapo on Sunday hours because of her unruly behaviour. As she was leaving, the woman is said to have threatened Ramirez, telling him she will "do" for him. Ramirez brushed off the threat and remained at the bar.

At 2.30 pm, two masked men came in the bar with one pointing a gun at Ramirez and firing. The officer died at the scene. Sources said the police Cyber Crime Unit as well as the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) have become involved in the investigation with a view to getting concrete evidence linking the high-risk prisoner to the murder.

Police yesterday tried to make contact with the prisoner’s girlfriend but she could not be found. Yesterday, colleagues of Ramirez at GEB were expected to receive counselling. Police Commissioner Gary Griffith has condemned the murder and said all efforts will be made to find the perpetrators.

At the Forensic Science Centre in St James, the officer's relatives gathered to await the autopsy report and get his death certificate. They said that Ramirez said he was filling in for a friend in terms of guard duties at the bar.

Relatives said Ramirez was working extra duty at the bar in order to raise money to pay for his five-year-old daughter's birthday party next week.

"His friend was supposed to be working at that bar, but he wasn't answering his phone, so they called him (Ramirez) out instead. He was already tired, but he did it anyway because his daughter's birthday is next week and she said she wanted a pool party," a relative said.

Relatives described Ramirez as a loving father who was protective of his two daughters and dreamed of climbing the ranks in the police service. They said one of Ramirez's daughters had died three years ago. (Additional reporting by
SHANE SUPERVILLE)

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"Cop’s murder…a hit from behind bars"

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