Three of the four people held in connection with the killing of constable Russell Ramnarine and engineering student Avery Keshwar were released yesterday afternoon after their attorneys threatened to file a claim against the State.
According to their lawyers— Criston J Williams and Larry Williams—the two men and woman were released around 2 pm after they had threatened to file a writ of habeas corpus at the High Court demanding their clients be either charged or released.
The trio was freed before the application could be made. The fourth man is still in police custody under arrest but is not being represented by the attorneys.
Ramnarine and Keshwar were shot and killed early in the morning of December 14 outside a barbeque outlet in Aranguez, San Juan.
According to an official report released by the T&T Police Service‘s Communications Unit, Ramnarine and Keshwar were gunned down outside the food establishment around 5.15 am.
Ramnarine was on duty but in plainclothes at the time and along with a uniformed officer of the St Joseph Police Crime Patrol were said to be following up on a report made by Avery of a stolen cellphone among several other items.
The report said Ramnarine and the other officer had accompanied Avery in an unmarked vehicle to Aranguez to meet a suspect to retrieve the stolen items but when the suspect spotted the uniformed officer in the vehicle, he ran off.
Ramnarine and the other officer came out of their vehicle and chased the suspect along Williams Street, Aranguez.
At some stage Ramnarine stopped his pursuit and made his way back to the food outlet, allowing the other officer to continue the chase.
Just as he was about to enter the vehicle, where Avery was still seated, shots were fired from inside the barbeque outlet. Both men were hit several times and died on the spot.