Brother of police welfare association official killed (with CNC3 video)

Eye on Crime 2013 02 21

While police battle to bring crime under control, with the runaway murder toll standing at 66 on Wednesday, the fight was brought closer to the Police Service after the brother of a senior officer was gunned down on his way to work.

Emwale Seales, the brother of Sgt Michael Seales, general secretary of the Police Social and Welfare Association, was shot dead around 6.45 am yesterday, as he walked to work at the Curepe Priority Mall, Curepe Junction.

Emwale worked as a security guard for the Public Transport Service Corporation. Reports said Emwale was walking along Agostini Street, St Joseph, when a  gunman came up behind him and shot him several times at point-blank range.

He was found lying face down in a drain at the side of the road, with several bullet wounds in the back of the head. Emwale recently moved to St Joseph from Diego Martin, and had been working at the Curepe Priority Mall for the past several months.

The T&T Guardian learned he was deported from the US last June. Up to late yesterday, calls to Michael Seales’ cellphone went unanswered.

Police who visited the scene of yesterday’s shooting included Supt Nanan of the Homicide Bureau, ASPs Hosein and Joseph, Insp Seecharan, Sgts Hernandez and Garcia, WP Sgt Steel-Williams and PC Ramdeen.

Contacted for a comment, Deputy Police Commissioner Mervyn Richardson said: “We have observed an escalation in violence across the country over the last week and as the people who have the responsibility to deal with crime and criminal activity, we are doing our best and employing all efforts to stem this tide of lawlessness.”

Adding that the police would continue to fight crime on all fronts, Richardson implored the public to partner with them, saying: “If you see something, if you hear something and if you know something, do something about it.

“We are doing everything humanly possible and making decisions and conducting operations to stem this tide of lawlessness,” he said. Revealing that they were also enforcing the anti-gang legislation to assist in this fight, Richardson extended condolences to the Seales family, as well as all others who had lost loved ones to such violence and crime.
He declined to comment on Seales’ killing, saying it was still early yet and investigations were continuing.