Derek Achong

A 22-year-old Laven­tille man was killed on Mon­day dur­ing a shootout with po­lice of­fi­cers. The man, Si­mon Hazel­wood, of Trou Macaque, Laven­tille, be­came the fourth per­son killed dur­ing shoot­ing in­ci­dents with po­lice since the de­c­la­ra­tion of the state of emer­gency on Au­gust 21. Re­ports said around 6 pm on Mon­day a par­ty of of­fi­cers, as­signed to the North East­ern Di­vi­sion Task Force (NEDTF), went to an area near the Trou Macaque Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre.

Of­fi­cers said a group of men ran away on see­ing the po­lice­men. Hazel­wood drew a pis­tol and fired at the of­fi­cers, it was al­leged. Po­lice said they re­turned fire and Hazel­wood was shot. He was rushed to the Port-of-Spain Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal where he died from his in­juries while re­ceiv­ing treat­ment. In an in­ter­view at the Foren­sic Sci­ence Cen­tre, St James, Hazel­wood's moth­er de­scribed him as a qui­et boy but did not de­ny he had run-ins with the po­lice in the past. In­ves­ti­ga­tions are con­tin­u­ing.