Policeman kills common-law wife, commits suicide

A policeman and his common-law wife have been killed in Curepe, Trinidad in what appears to be a murder-suicide.

Investigators say they responded to a call and found Donna Noel, 47, dead at her workplace. She was a secretary at the office of Dr Wahid Mohammed at the Curepe Medical Centre. Her husband, a 19-year police veteran, was lying next to her with gunshot wounds. Shawn James died later at hospital.

Both had gunshot wounds to the head.

The murder weapon is believed to be the service service revolver that James checked out at the Besson Street police station where he worked.

Police sources say James signed for a .38 revolver and six live rounds of ammunition and reported that he was heading out to conduct some inquiries. Officers told the Trinidad Guardian James had domestic problems but no one believes he was so stressed that he would murder anyone.

James was a police academy lecturer and taught officers customer relations skills.

Police say there were no eyewitnesses although the shooting took place in the early afternoon.

Reports say James had gone to the office to meet Noel, whom he had put out of their home earlier in the week. There were no patients in the doctor's office at the time and the reports say employees left the couple alone to give them some privacy to discuss their domestic problems.

That's when the shooting took place. Investigators say people on the street outside heard arguments, then gunshots, and called police.