Resh­ma Ra­goonath

A se­nior South­ern Di­vi­sion po­lice of­fi­cer is to­day nurs­ing gun­shot wounds af­ter be­ing shot three times in a rob­bery on Sat­ur­day night in San Fer­nan­do. Sargeant Ian Har­ri­lal, 49, of Bro­mage Es­tate, Princes Town is cur­rent­ly ward­ed in sta­ble con­di­tion at the San Fer­nan­do Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal. Po­lice re­port that around 1.45 am Har­ri­lal and a friend had just left a bar in the vicin­i­ty of Al­bert Av­enue, Mon Re­pos head­ed for the of­fi­cer's grey Toy­ota Cam­ry when two men ap­proached them.

The men, de­scribed as Afro-Trinida­di­an and In­do-Trinida­di­an, de­mand­ed that Har­ri­lal hand over his car keys. The of­fi­cer re­port­ed­ly re­sist­ed. One of the as­sailants pulled a gun and shot the of­fi­cer three times, hit­ting him in the chest and ab­domen. They then took the keys and es­caped with the stolen ve­hi­cle. Har­ri­lal was rushed to hos­pi­tal by an Emer­gency Health Ser­vices am­bu­lance and un­der­went emer­gency surgery.

A dis­trict-wide man­hunt has been launched for the as­sailants.