Cop kills 2, hurts 1 in Chancellor Hill gunplay

An eagle-eyed police officer was sharp enough to fend off three men who allegedly tried to rob him on Lady Chancellor Road on Wednesday night.

Two of the three men were shot dead and the third is now at Besson Street Police Station assisting with investigations.

Police sources told Newsday, at about 7.15 pm, the officer was walking along Lady Chancellor Road,  a short distance away from the Emperor Valley Zoo, with his girlfriend.

He spotted three men in a gold Nissan Almera on the other side of the road. One of the occupants got out and shot at him and he drew his licensed pistol and shot back.

All three men were hit. Franklin De Freitas, 35, remained in the car wounded while the other two, identified as Jahmeal Phillip, 22, and Meschach Quamina, 26, escaped into the bush.

De Freitas was taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital, where he died. Phillip was later found dead in the same bushes. Quamina was arrested while seeking treatment for gunshot wounds in his back at the hospital.

He was treated and then released into the custody of Besson Street police.

A gun was found on the scene.

Video circulating on social media recorded the car after the shooting. About ten bullet holes could be counted on the right side.

Speaking to father of one of the slain men, Frank De Freitas, Newsday was told that his birthday was the day of the fatal robbery attempt.

He responded to newspaper reports suggesting that De Freitas was a hitman. He said De Freitas was his only son.

“To tell the truth, this is the first time that I ever heard anything like that about him. He did have a past, but he was trying to change,” the elder De Freitas said.

De Freitas’ father described him as a quiet person who liked to work. Frank admitted that De Freitas had a history with the police, but said they were both working on helping him stay away from a life of crime.

“On one occasion he was arrested for a firearm. Another occasion was for the theft of a cellphone. There was another time where he was arrested for another robbery of a cellphone. I had a lot of up and down in the court.

"I resigned my job in 2017, trying to get money to get him out of prison, and I was successful. He was my only son. I didn’t care what I had to go through.”

Frank said when he got out of jail he bought De Freitas a new car – a Nissan Cefiro – to “stabilise him with work.”

De Freitas then started working as a PH driver in Diego Martin and environs.

“But, on the side, he always had these friends who would influence him. That is where the problem was,” the father said.

He said he warned De Freitas time and again about the company he kept.

Frank said he called De Freitas in the morning and that evening he hook his son's hand and wished him a happy birthday. It would be the last conversation they would ever have.

Police are working on the theory that the incident was not an attempt on the officer’s life but a random robbery. Police say the Chancellor area is prone to robberies, especially at night, as there are few to no lampposts in that area, making visibility low.

They advised people not to go there at night.

A jogger who frequents Chancellor Hill told Newsday she would continue using the hill but would go when there were a lot of people present.

“There is a good police presence there,” the jogger said. “I think the best possible way to keep a place safe is to have as many people there as possible.”

But a resident said the fact that there were more and more people on Chancellor Hill was “unnerving.”

“You really don’t know who is who,” the resident said. “Yes, there is a police presence here, and it has increased as more people started coming here over the years, so there are a lot of patrols. But because so many people are using the hill, there are people who feel they could go incognito.

"Some people take liberties here because it is off the beaten track.”

In December 2019, joggers found a man and his 12-year-old son shot dead on Chancellor Hill.