Guns, ammo seized in Grande protest on Tuesday

Police seized firearm and ammunition during protests at the North Eastern Settlement in Sangre Grande on Tuesday night.

Police said on Wednesday they were looking for a 24-year-old man believed to be connected to the items seized – a Beretta pistol and a magazine with four rounds of nine-millimetre ammunition.

Reports said police responded to reports of loud explosions in the area. Eastern Division police carried out several exercises between 10 am and 5 pm on Wednesday, co-ordinated by Snr Supt Ryan Khan. The report said officers heading west along Jacob Coat Road, North Eastern Settlement, saw a man from the area. When he saw them, he threw something and ran away. Police searched the area and found the gun and ammunition. An arrest warrant for him was issued and PC West is investigating.

The release said there have been no further signs of protest and all roads are passable. The protests were over a police-involved shooting on Tuesday in which Brandon De Gale, 33, died. Investigations into that matter are also ongoing.

Officers from the Guard and Emergency Branch were sent to the area to keep the peace after the protest.

When Newsday spoke to De Gale's mother, Wendy De Gale, on Tuesday, she said that at around 4.40 am, police searched her home at Immortelle Crescent, and left empty-handed.
Her son lived in another building with his girlfriend (a police officer) and his 13-year-old stepdaughter. De Gale said she heard her son speaking to officers, then heard a gunshot. His girlfriend was arrested.

A police release on Tuesday said that around 4.30 that morning, members of the Eastern Division Gang and Intelligence Unit attached to the Eastern Division Task Force went to search two homes in North Eastern Settlement.

At De Gale's home, they reportedly found a woman in the living room. In the bedroom, they saw De Gale lying on the bed. They said De Gale pulled out a gun from under a pillow and pointed it at them, and believing their lives were in danger, they shot him once.

Afterwards, residents of the area staged a fiery protest and told Newsday they would continue protesting until they received justice. All roads into the area were littered with smoking debris when Newsday arrived.

Police PRO Joanne Archie, in a phone interview with Newsday, said she did not know if officers were wearing body cameras at the time of the shooting. She said the woman police constable detained was still in custody.

Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood-Christopher, in a statement last Friday, said officers need to be more proficient in standard operating procedures to avoid unnecessary loss of life. She spoke after six police officers were acquitted of murder for the shooting deaths of three Barrackpore friends in 2011.

On Tuesday, Police Complaints Authority director David West told Newsday an investigation into the shooting had already started. He gave no further details.