Police run for cover as gunmen kill handcuffed prisoner

Criminals in Trinidad and Tobago took another bold step Monday to demonstrate that they have no regard for the law as they shot and killed a prisoner in broad daylight as he was being escorted by police officers outside the courthouse in Rio Claro.

The victim, Peter Garcia, was in handcuffs and being escorted by police officers when gunmen attacked, killing Garcia on the spot.

A report on the incident in the Trinidad Express said, "Police constables escorting him to the police station next door released their prisoner and ran after the first gunshot. The policemen who responded to the shooting came long after the suspects were gone."

The paper quited Acting Police Commissioner James Philbert as saying "the police response to the killing would show criminals that we are in charge."

He said, "Today we have lost some ground in the sense that criminals can be so boldface to do that. I want to promise the nation that we will find these men and bring them to justice in the quickest time".

The suspects, who attacked at mid morning in full view of police and the public, are still free, despite the assurance by the country top cop.

The paper reported that the killers used Uzi submachine guns and fired on the police station before leaving. The courthouse is under renovation and the gunmen used that as a cover to dress in steel tipped boots, hard hats and coveralls.

The Express said police reported that two "construction workers" approached Garcia as he was being escorted from the court by two police officers and one of them pulled a gun and shot Garcia at point blank range.

It said, "the officers ran, and as Garcia fell, the second man stood over him and fired at least five times into his head and chest. The men climbed a chain-linked fence on the south side of the court compound, ran through the grounds of the Rio Claro Anglican Church, and left the area in a silver coloured Nissan Almera car."

Garcia's father, Harvey Huggins, asked, "How could my son get shoot in police hands. Don't they supposed to protect him?" It said Huggins stated that more people would die as a result of his son's killing.

Garcia had just left court after Magistrate JoAnne Connor made a favourable ruling in Garcia's case. He was in court charged with wounding with intent to commit murder, and with the murder of Rio Claro businessman Simboonath Kumar.

The state was unprepared to proceed with the murder case against one of the country's most wanted men. Garcia had already been discharged on two kidnapping charges.

Garcia had hoped that he would get a chance to clear his name and had told police in an interview earlier this year that his life was in danger.

In an interview with the local media in May he said, "I never kill nobody in my entire life, never, right now I running for meh life, if I didn't run for my life, I would have been a dead man all now." He told reporters that he told the police who wanted to kill him.

He surrendered to police with the hope that he would clear his name and put the past behind him having been assured that he woluld be protected.

"We were assured that he would not be harmed", a relative told the Express. "We are now all in fear for our life, we don't know what to do now, if they can get to Peter while he is in police custody, then what is left for us now, who can we trust?" she asked.