An unidentified man was killed in a shootout with police on Wrightson Road on Monday morning. According to police reports, the man was a suspect in an attempted carjacking.
Police say at around around 8:30am, Oswald Gardener, of Espinet Street, Morvant, was plying his silver Nissan B15 from Port of Spain to Carenage with a lone occupant in the front passenger seat. On reaching Chaguaramas, the passenger pulled out a gun and announced a robbery. He then ordered the driver out of the vehicle, locked him in the trunk, and drove off.
While in the trunk, the victim called the police and managed to escape, but was shot in the right leg by the suspect who then sped off with the vehicle. The injured driver was taken to the St. James Medical Complex for treatment.
The stolen vehicle was later spotted by police officers stationed at the corner of French Street and Wrightson Road near the UTT campus. The suspect opened fire on the marked police vehicle, jumped out of the stolen vehicle and continued shooting at the police.
The police officers returned fire and the suspect collapsed near UTT on the Westbound lane of Wrightson Road.
The suspect was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital. He is yet to be identified.