Police have shot and killed two people Wednesday in Trinidad amid reports of a plot to assassinate the Commissioner of Prisons, Dennis Pulchan.
The authorities have identified the victims as Anthony St. Louis 28, and Natalia Alexander of Enterprise in central Trinidad.
The police said they were conducting a crime suppression exercise following reports of a plot to kill Pulchan and members of his family, when they came under gunfire as officers attempted to search the home of the suspect.
They said it appeared that St. Louis had been using the woman as a human shield during the exchange of gunfire.The police said they recovered a firearm.
“Police also found 620 grams of narcotics at an abandoned house in close proximity to the crime scene,” the police statement added.
Pulchan, speaking to reporters, said that the attempt on his life as well as on other prison officers in the past would not deter them from doing their job.
“We have a job to do and we have to do our job,” he said, adding “I serve my country…regardless of what conditions exist out there.
“We have our job to do and what I could tell you about my perspective and my officers perspective is that we are not scared to do our job
Meanwhile, a police officer and two women are due to appear virtually before a Sangre Grande Magistrate charged with several offences including conspiracy to murder.
Constable Randolph Dandrade, Laura Roberts, 33 and Chantel Lopez, 26, were all charged with conspiracy to murder.
Roberts and Lopez were also charged with robbery with aggravation and malicious damage.
The police said that the charges followed a report that on August 5, a 38-year-old ambulance driver was at his home when he was visited by a woman with whom he was romantically involved some time ago. At the time she was in the company of another woman.
After a brief conversation, the victim agreed to drive the women to another location in his vehicle valued at TT$40,000 (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents).
But when he arrived at the destination, one of the women held on to his jersey and leaned towards him, while the other woman, who was in the rear seat, injected him with a needle with a liquid running down his neck emitting a chemical odour.
Police said that the man became fearful for his life and exited his vehicle and ran. He managed to stop a vehicle, but in an effort to escape when one of the women again drove his vehicle towards the car he was now in causing a collision and damage to both vehicles.
The women then escaped in his car.
The man was taken to the police station where he made a report and was subsequently taken to the Sangre Grande Hospital where he was treated and later discharged.
Police later arrested the two women and further investigations led to the arrest of Dandrade, who is also the common-law husband of one of the women.
