Shot PC Ram: I like this job

Despite being shot and wounded in the line of duty, 27-year-old PC Anand Ram said he would not change his profession for the world.

“I like this job. This (the shooting) would not make me want to change this profession,” Ram said while at hospital.

On Thursday, while responding to a report of robbery at a house at Moze Drive, Gopaul Lands, Marabella, suspects opened fire at Ram and three other police. Ram was shot in the lower abdomen during a shootout and 15-year-old suspect Isaac Simmons was shot dead. Simmons a Form Three student of Carapichaima West Secondary lived a short distance away at Union Park East.

Yesterday while on a bed at the San Fernando general hospital, Ram told Newsday doctors said he was lucky to be alive. He is assigned to the Gasparillo police station and was wearing a bullet proof vest at the time of the shootout.

Pointing to his left lower abdomen, Ram said: “The bullet entered and exited to the back. It did not damage any internal organs, so I did not have to undergo any surgery. Basically, doctors are doing tests to see if there is any lead present in the bloodstream.”

Ram, who joined the police 18 months ago, said he had no personal vendetta against the young suspect. Instead, he said, he was simply doing his duty which is to protect citizens. Ram, of Gasparillo, said police risk their lives daily to protect people whom they do not even know.

“I don’t know him personally, but he and several other relatives are known offenders. It started off like a normal day and I have responded to robberies before.“

Snr Supt Zamsheed Mohammed, of the Southern Division, and other police visited Ram and hailed him a hero. One senior police said had Ram not fired back at the shooters, not only him but his colleagues could have been dead.

After the shootout, police said they recovered a loaded gun and some of the loot including household items. They also detained two other suspects, both teenagers, who remained in custody up to last evening.