Trinidad and Tobago: Police officer killed in accidental shooting at Kent House

Trinidad and Tobago: Gunplay turns deadly as a young cop loses his life in an accidental shooting after he and his colleagues allegedly played with their service weapons while on duty on September 11th, 2025.

According to police reports the tragic incident reportedly unfolded at Kent House, headquarters of the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government around 3:18 p.m. on Thursday.

Police Constable Jamal Charles, along with his 2 colleagues were inside a guard booth at the back entrance of the Ministry, and decided to play with their service firearms as they routinely did since they were batchmates who passed out in March of this year.

Although this time, it did not end in just games as while they were playing with their service pistols for approximately 20 minutes, one of the officers allegedly pointed his weapon at PC Charles while laughing and speaking, when a single shot rang out of his gun and struck PC Charles in the face, fatally wounding him on the spot.

The officer who fired the shot and a batchmate of PC Charles immediately collapsed on the floor, with grief and had to be rushed to the hospital for medical treatment, where he remains under police guard.

The other officer present at the scene confirmed that he did see the other officers pointing his gun at PC Charles and a shot was fired and upon examination of the officers gun authorities confirmed that his service pistol was missing a live round of ammunition.

Sources disclosed that the officer who fired the shot at young PC Charles,  stands to face possible charges of manslaughter, even without the intent to kill, as his reckless actions directly caused the death of his colleague.

In a voice note and statement, Khadijah Ameen, the Minister of Rural Development and Local Government, confirmed the killing of PC Charles through a service pistol, describing his death as a heartbreaking incident at the Ministry’s compound.

Senior officers, including Deputy Commissioner of Police Suzette Martin, Snr. Supt. Sean Dhilpaul, and SRP Snr. Supt. Wayne Mohammed, also visited the scene as investigators from the Homicide Bureau Region 1 while other units gathered evidence.

Police Constable Jamal Charles, who only joined the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service six months ago will be remembered as a promising young officer stationed at Kent House, who had worked outside Minister Ameen’s office earlier that day.