[UPDATED] Family demands justice after Tobago pensioner fatally shot by off-duty cop

A MT ST GEORGE family is demanding justice after a pensioner was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer in Tobago on May 30.

Dead is Frank Alan Sandy, 74, of Windsor Road, Mt St George.

A police report said that around 5 am on May 30, the off-duty constable was at his home in Mt St George when he was awakened by the sound of his dogs barking.

The officer later heard a noise from the upper portion of his house and a “tugging sound” at his front door.

While carrying out further checks, the police officer saw a man trying to enter his house.

The report said the man lunged at the officer with an object in his hand.

Fearing for his life, the officer then shot at his assailant with his licensed firearm, causing him to fall to the ground.

The policeman then contacted the ambulance and made a report to the Scarborough Police Station and took the man to the Scarborough General Hospital, where he later died.

Officers of the Scarborough CID responded, including Insp Bacchus, Insp Miller, Sgt Harris, Cpl Abraham. Officers from the Criminal Records Office also visited the scene.

Investigations are continuing.

Outside of the hospital, the deceased’s grief-stricken daughter, Melissa, complained she had not received any information about her father’s death

“I have no information. I don’t know what is going on with my father, where he is, what happened, who pronounced him dead, where he died, nothing. All they came and tell us is that he was shot because he was invading somebody premises with some knife. I eh know nothing,” she said.

Sandy said the police and doctors also were not forthcoming with information.

“No officer is here to talk to me, no doctor, no nothing. All a security officer told me is that a body came here with the police and they had a John Doe and they don’t know what happened after that.”

She claimed the officer who shot her father was his neighbor.

“His neighbor who shoot him and telling his superiors he is a menace and a John Doe all of a sudden.”

Sandy said her father was not a thief and had many relatives in Mt St George. She added she would not rest until the facts of the incident are revealed.

“He is 74 years-old and I need some kind of information. Come on, that is my father.”

A female relative said, “God doh sleep.”

Sandy’s death marks the second police-involved killing in Tobago in as many months.

On April 25, Ronelle Marcelle, also known as Ratty, was killed in Bethel, while a plain-clothes officer attempted to arrest him.

Marcelle, who was wanted for several offences, allegedly resisted and attacked the officer with a knife and cutlass.

Police said a lengthy struggle ensued in which Marcelle was shot by the officer in accordance with the use-of-force policy.

He died while being treated at the Scarborough General Hospital.

A video of the incident showed Marcelle handcuffed while the plain-clothes policeman told him to relax. Onlookers were also urging Marcelle to calm down.

However, Marcelle kept saying that police wanted to kill him and told the officer to let him go.

That investigation is ongoing.

In an interview with Newsday after the incident involving Marcelle, head of the Tobago Division ACP Oswain Subero, assured that “police don’t just go around shooting people.”

He added, "It is a police-involved shooting and the individual died. Police don't just go around killing people. Police get into confrontation and people die as a result of the confrontation."

Subero said, then, he expected a fair investigation into the incident.

"We expect the Police Complaints Authority and the Professional Standards Bureau to also do an investigation in line with established procedures as to every shooting that involved the loss of life that the police is a part of. We are awaiting investigations and I want to take this time to offer my condolences to the family of the deceased."

As of March, there were 18 reported police-involved shooting incidents in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) said, then, that the number of police-involved shooting incidents and the number of people dead as a result of these confrontations, have more that doubled this year compared to a similar period last year.

PCA director David West, in a Newsday interview, described the increase as “disturbing.”

He said his concern stemmed mainly from “the fact that there has been no record of body worn camera (BWC) footage on any of the aforementioned incidents to date.”

West added while he believes police are within their right to return fire in self-defence if a person points a gun or shoots at them, bodycam footage is important in “determining the truth of a shooting.”

Acting Police Commissioner Junior Benjamin, in a separate interview, suggested the increase in police involved shooting incidents could be the result of the “aggressive crime-fighting approach” adopted by the police.

“Police are confronting crime and obviously, when we confront crime with such aggression, you are going to find those who seek to oppose the police.”

This story was originally published with the headline Pensioner, 74, killed by off-duty cop in Tobago and has been updated to include additional details. See original post below.

A pensioner was killed by an off-duty police officer in Tobago.

Dead is Frank Alan Sandy, 74, of Windsor Road, Mt St George.

A police report said that around 5 am on May 30, the off-duty constable was at his home in Mt St George when he was awakened by the sound of his dogs barking.

The officer later heard a noise from the upper portion of his house and a “tugging sound” at his front door.

While carrying out further checks, the police officer observed a man trying to enter his house.

The report said the man attacked the officer with an object in his hand.

Fearing for his life, the officer then shot at his assailant with his licensed firearm, causing him to fall to the ground.

The policeman then contacted the ambulance and made a report to the Scarborough Police Station.

Officers of the Scarborough CID responded and took the man to the Scarborough General Hospital, where he later died.

Investigations are continuing.