Po­lice Con­sta­ble Amon An­drews re­mains in crit­i­cal con­di­tion, af­ter be­ing am­bushed and shot mul­ti­ple times dur­ing an at­tempt­ed rob­bery ear­ly yes­ter­day.

The 51-year-old of­fi­cer, at­tached to the Arou­ca Po­lice Sta­tion, was at­tacked around 2 am while head­ing home at Skin­ner Street, off Con­stan­tine Street, Arou­ca.

Po­lice said An­drews was con­front­ed by a gun­man who tried to rob him. In­ves­ti­ga­tors be­lieve the of­fi­cer strug­gled with the as­sailant be­fore be­ing shot in the chest, up­per mid-back and left leg.

Neigh­bours and his com­mon-law wife found him bleed­ing on the road­way near the Pri­or­i­ty Bus Route around 2.45 am. He was rushed to the Er­ic Williams Med­ical Sci­ences Com­plex (EWM­SC), Mt Hope, where doc­tors con­firmed in­juries to his lungs and low­er spinal cord.

De­spite the sever­i­ty of his wounds, se­nior of­fi­cials said An­drews was alert when they vis­it­ed him yes­ter­day.

Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice (Op­er­a­tions) Suzette Mar­tin and Se­nior Supt of the North Cen­tral Di­vi­sion Vern­ly Gift prayed for his re­cov­ery dur­ing their hos­pi­tal vis­it.

Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Al­lis­ter Gue­var­ro al­so ex­tend­ed prayers on be­half of the TTPS and pledged sup­port for the of­fi­cer and his fam­i­ly.

A man­hunt has been launched for the sus­pect.