Outrage across T&T after Police shooting leaves unarmed civilian dead, ACP refuses to suspend officers 

Trinidad and Tobago: Two police officers from Trinidad and Tobago Police Department fired nineteen shots in Valsayn towards innocent civilians Joshua Samaroo and Kaia Sealy, leaving the former dead and Sealy critically injured and paralysed. The incident has created a huge outrage among the locals, sparking nationwide protests.

Samaroo was reportedly killed by police led shooting in St Augustine while his common law wife has been left battling with severe injuries and paralysis.

The CCTV footage from the incident which is now going viral has visibly shaken the island nation as it clearly shows that right after the police van crashed with that of locals, they came out and started firing towards them.

The outrage among locals took to another level following a second media statement issued late Monday by Commissioner of Police Allister Guevarro in which he rejected calls to suspend the police officers who were involved in the fatal shooting of 31-year-old and ordered that they receive counselling while the investigations will continue.

In his statement, Guevarro is maintaining that the shooting took place during routine police operations and was not linked to the usage of State of Emergency powers. He added that while the video which is circulating across social media runs just over five minutes but it captures only about 15 seconds of gunfire and does not show what police say was a wider sequence of events.

According to the ACP, the incident occurred after a ‘high risk vehicle pursuit’ which involved officers from the North Central Division Task Force. He claimed that officers acted in accordance with the police use-of-force policy after the vehicle’s occupants allegedly challenged them.

However, the CCTV footage clearly shows Samaroo driving a Toyota Aqua into Bassie Street Extension, Trinidad where he seems to have lost control and crashed into a concrete drain opposite a Hindu temple. Within seconds of a police SUV arriving at the location, two of them came out with firearms and opened fire.

The CCTV video shows the victim with his hands raised and unarmed as officers discharged at least 25 rounds into the vehicle within 17 seconds. One of the police officers was later heard shouting “don't move, don't move, don't move!” while he was pointing a gun towards Samaroo as he moved slightly in his seat.

Not only this, but the video further shows the male victim being removed from his vehicle and placed into the trunk of the police SUV and no one knows what happened after that. Notably, the video does not show a firearm in Samaroo’s possession, despite police initially describing the incident as an “exchange of gunfire.”

Apart from the public outrage, Former Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith has also sharply condemned Guevarro’s public statements and the handling of the incident and has accused him of mismanaging the TTPS and undermining public confidence in the Service.

One of the locals who took to Facebook to condemn the police action following the incident said, “The statement by Commissioner of Police Allister Guevaro, suggesting there is “NO REASON” for placing officers on administrative leave after a fatal police shooting, perfectly captures why public trust in the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service continues to erode. This is not leadership. This is institutional unprofessionalism.”

Not only this, but a petition is also circulating on Facebook through which locals are calling for the immediate removal of Allister Guevarro as Trinidad and Tobago’s police commissioner, after his refusal to suspend the police officers involved in the killing of a surrendering Joshua Samaroo and critical injury of his common-law wife, Kaia Sealy.

The petition has already been signed by 1,340 verified locals and has been initiated by Alyssa Phillip.