ATTACK ON DEPUTY PRISONS CHIEF – Bodyguard wounded, teen injured in Barataria shootout

The TT Prison Service believes Deputy Commissioner of Prisons (DCP) Sherwin Bruce was the target of Wednesday's attack by gunmen outside his Baratria home that injured his driver and teenage daughter.

A police report said Steve Phipps, a prison officer and driver attached to DCP Bruce, arrived at his Sparrow Avenue, Barataria residence around 7.05 am to pick him up, when three masked men jumped out of two awaiting vehicles and opened fire at his car.

Residents told Newsday that Bruce's wife had just put their teenage daughter into the vehicle and was returning to the house while Bruce was walking toward the vehicle when the assailants attacked.

They said Bruce returned fire at the attackers who then fled.

The police report did not mention that DCP Bruce returned fire on the assailants, however, a release from the prison service corroborated the claim.

Speaking at a police media briefing yesterday, Northern Division Snr Supt Mervin Edwards said Bruce's teenage daughter received minor injuries in the incident but was not hospitalised.

The police report said Phipps took cover behind the dashboard of the vehicle but was hit twice in his right arm. However, the prison service's release said he was shot in the chest. He was taken to hospital for treatment.

Nearby residents are now trying to come to terms with the violence that erupted in what they described as their quiet, close-knit community.

Fearful for their safety, residents spoke to Newsday on the condition of anonymity. One of the bullets from the exchange entered a nearby house, hitting a hutch just feet in front of the female occupant who was on her way to investigate the noises she heard outside.

"I heard this commotion and I was exiting (my bedroom)...and I heard this loud crash and it was the bullet hitting there and the glass."

Similarly, an elderly member of the community said his entire family was up for the morning when they heard the loud explosions.

"As I come in the kitchen I hear the gunshots and I drop to the ground and my big son bawled out 'Everybody drop to the ground!' but by the time I come outside it died down.

"I living here for over 57 years. This is the first time something like this ever happen here."

He believes the attackers have been surveilling the DCP's home for a week.

"They have been observing because we understand certain people see the vehicle and didn't take it on. The vehicle was in the community for some time. They see the vehicle moving through the community so they were observing," he said.

In a prison service statement on Wednesday, acting Commissioner of Prisons Deopersad Ramoutar condemned the attack, describing it as "cowardly" and "unfortunate" attempted assassination.

The statement did not give any possible motives for the attack.

Police, however, believed it was a revenge attack.

"The motive is one of revenge," said Edwards at the police media briefing,

"We are seeing it as gang activity. In fact, most of the homicides in the division have been related to gang activity."

When asked by Newsday if police believed the target was a hit on the Deputy Prisons Commissioner called from within prison walls, Edwards said: "I am leading this investigation. It's at a very sensitive stage.

"Motive, intent, (will be determined) as the investigation proceeds. I assure you that all information that I am able to give to the media will be done so through the corporate communications unit."

He said police were following "certain leads" and hoped to make an arrest in the shortest possible time.

Edwards said ASP Callendar, Insp Ramsingh and Sgt Nixon were continuing investigations.

Shortly after the incident, Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood-Christopher issued a statement saying the safety and well-being of law-enforcement officers and the community remained a top priority.

"We intend to use all the resources at our disposal to apprehend those responsible for this attack," she said.

Commenting further on the attack in his statement on Wednesday, Ramoutar described some elements within prison walls as "cancerous cells...

"My officers, we are very resilient, and this brazen attack on us will not deter us from doing our duty. We will continue to maintain security and provide and implement strategies and programmes geared towards rehabilitation.

"There are just two handfuls of inmates who are undesirables in the Prison Service and I dare say, in society. They are cancerous cells in an organism, and cancerous cells are unwanted cells," he said.

For these "cancerous cells," Ramoutar prescribed that inmates and ex-inmates come forward with information on the incident or, even, perform a citizen's arrest.

"Bring these persons in restraints in front of the Port of Spain Prison gate for the rule of law to take its course. This will send a strong message to those criminal elements whom I described as cancerous cells."

Shortly after the attack, the Prison Officers' Association condemned the attack in a post on their Facebook page.

Head of the association Gerard Gordon told Newsday the incident highlighted the "general disregard for law enforcement."

"As long as you are a law-enforcement officer in Trinidad and Tobago, you are under threat. That is the state of crime and criminality.

He said, several years ago, the association developed a comprehensive security plan for officers and the country but was ignored.

On Monday, the association wrote to Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds asking for authorised, monitored telephones to be placed in prisons as officers were being threatened by prisoners over not being able to contact loved ones or attorneys.

"Prison officers' lives were placed under threat when those jammers were turned on at MSP," the letter said.

"They (inmates) are blaming officers, when prison officers were neither responsible for the purchase, installation, and activation of those jammers nor the failed delivery of promised authorised phones to inmates. Please rectify this situation at MSP as soon as possible by installing these phones."

It said jammers were also being installed at the Port of Spain prison.

Copied on the letter were President Christine Kangaloo, the Prime Minister, Ramoutar and others.

In another letter dated August 23 obtained by Newsday, the association wrote Hinds urging him to expedite the process for the amendments to the Firearms Act to be proclaimed. It will allow the Commissioner of Prisons to issue firearms to prison officers.

Speaking in Parliament in February, Hinds revealed that 88 prison officers were reportedly threatened by inmates between January 21 and December 22 last year.

Almost five years to the date, maximum security superintendent of prisons Wayne Jackson was gunned down as he drove into his Malabar home. He was one of the highest-ranking members of the service to be murdered.

In November 2021, prison officers Trevor Serrette and Nigel Jones were killed just days apart. One month later a hit list was discovered during a routine alarm test at the Remand Yard, Golden Grove Prison, in Arouca.