Trinidad: Man shot dead in Tacarigua after stealing SUV from Arima police station

Trinidad and Tobago: A shocking security breach ended in tragedy earlier this week when a man was fatally shot by police in Tacarigua after being identified as driving one of the stolen SUVs that had previously been in police custody.

According to sources, the security breach happened earlier this week when a Toyota Raize SUV Reg. No. PEF 8433 was stolen directly from the impound area of the Arima Police Station, without the culprit being identified. 

Allegedly the vehicle had previously been towed and secured at the Arima Police Station for processing on Friday, August 1st, 2025 after police found it abandoned on a desolate roadway in the Arima district. 

Reports say that the vehicle was towed but the officers did not have keys to access to the vehicle, therefore the vehicle remained impounded at the Arima Police Station for further investigations. 

However during the Emancipation long weekend, an unidentified man allegedly walked through the front office of the police station, proceeded to their impound area and stole the vehicle completely undetected. 

The security breach remained unnoticed for days with only a few police officers knowing about the missing SUV. Shockingly the vehicle had never been logged in on the official Charge Room record and there was therefore no official knowledge of the vehicle’s existence at the station. 

The stolen vehicle incident was kept under wraps at the police station for it was deemed as an incompetent act, the police proceeded to launch an official investigation into the matter by reviewing CCTV footage from the Arima Police Station and surrounding areas to identify who stole the vehicle. 

According to police reports, on August 6, officers from the North Central Division Task Force spotted the stolen SUV along the Churchill Roosevelt Highway and launched a pursuit. 

Where the passenger in the stolen SUV pointed a weapon at the police’s vehicle during the chase. Ultimately the SUV came to a stop at Orange Grove Road South, Tacarigua and gunfire was exchanged between the SUV assailants and the police. 

The driver, believed to be the same individual who stole the vehicle from the station, was killed by gunfire while the unidentified  passenger in the SUV managed to escape to the nearby farmlands. 

The information on the owner of the vehicle or if the vehicle’s licence plates are genuine still remains unclear as there were no initial reports of the vehicle being stolen or was or intended to be used in criminal acts. 

The incident has left the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago puzzled as how while the country is in the midst of a State of Emergency and elevated security alerts someone managed to breach a secured area of the police station and steal a vehicle unarmed and undetected.