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The AR-15 assault rifle that was used in the killing of Selwyn “Robocop” Alexis is the same type of weapon that was used to shoot police officer Sgt Ricardo Morris multiple times in Sea Lots in May. Morris managed to survive.
Police also discovered Alexis’ weapons cache of two AR-15 rifles and ammunition at his Longdenville home on Monday. An AR-15 rifle was one of the weapons used in an attack in Enterprise, Chaguanas, on June 30, in which four men were shot.
Several AR-15s were seized during the August 21, 2011, state of emergency and in September 2011, five AR-15 rifles were found at TTPost’s head office at Piarco, earmarked for shipment to Thailand.
Criminologist Daurius Figueira said the high-powered AR-15 rifle was the weapon of choice for mass shootings in the US as well as sicarios—drug cartel hitmen or assassins working for Mexican Transnational Trafficking Organisations (MTTO).
Figueira said the question arises as to what was being protected in Sea Lots that was so imperative that the AR-15 rifle had to be protected at all costs to the point of shooting Sgt Ricardo Morris on May 26.
He said MTTOs purchased AR-15 parts kits, castings and flats in the US, smuggled them into Mexico where they milled the castings and flats and then assembled the finished AR-15 platform assault rifles with barrels purchased and smuggled from the US.
Figueira said an AR-15 assault rifle manufactured in this manner had no markings and serial numbers stamped on its parts and was a weapon that dispensed anonymous, unlisted death.
He said the only way to profile this weapon was by its ballistic footprint created when it was fired but with parts kits, replacement barrels and receivers the weapon can literally be given a new ballistic footprint. Figueira said the challenged forensic capacity of Caribbean states was then a hitman’s paradise premised on impunity.
He said The Small Arms Survey Issue Brief Number 17 publication of March 2016 titled, Dribs and Drabs the Mechanics of Small Arms Trafficking from the US, stated: “Arms trafficking from the US goes well beyond gun-running to Mexico. Traffickers in the 159 cases studied shipped weapons, parts, ammunition and accessories to at least 46 countries and foreign territories on six continents.”
Figueira said the study also showed specific Caribbean islands, including T&T, were recipients of illicitly trafficked arms.
Firearms weapons specialist Paul-Daniel Nahous pointed out to the T&T Guardian that one of Alexis’ rifles had an optic sight for aiming that made shooting accurately very easy for combat, even for a shooter who had minimal training once the sight was calibrated properly.
He said because of the AR-15 assault rifle’s popularity, its price has risen to US$1,800 and above from US$900 in the US and was available on US gun sites such as Cheaper Than Dirt. Nahous said information from the Port-of-Spain CID was that the street value for an AR-15 in T&T was $45,000. Mayers said an AK-47 assault rifle cost $45,000 to $50,000. However, it was becoming more scarce than the AR-15.
Nahous said, “Robocop’s AR-15s are modern variants or models and are also outfitted with picatinny rails which allow attachments such as laser sights, optic sights, flashlights and grips.
“The tech these guys are getting their hands on is scary, such as red dot optic and reflex sights, heavier and more efficient calibre rifles and ammunition.
“We are lucky so far that law enforcement agents haven’t come across AR-15s configured to their full destructive potential with grenade launcher attachments in the hands of criminals.”
Heerah: Trail of damning evidence left behind
When former executive director of the National Operations Centre (NOC) Garvin Heerah was questioned on the comparative analysis regarding the investigations of the rifles found at Alexis’ home, and the possibility these weapons may have been used at other crime scenes or homicide scenes, he lamented the use of guns in serious crimes had increased and they left a trail of the most damning evidence.
He said based on his continued advice, his observation and research over the years including research conducted in alliance with Forensics Outreach Team UK and Europe, when a gun was involved, crime scene investigators must look for specific clues such as bullet casings, bullet holes, spatter patterns, and perhaps even a dropped weapon, either at the scene or nearby, such as in a car, a drain, under a house or nearby bushes.
Heerah said once a bullet was recovered, either from an impact point in a soft surface or pulled out of flesh by a medical examiner or a physician, that bullet will become a primary piece of evidence.
He said since there were several processes involved in rifling a barrel, each barrel was unique, and just like fingerprints, a bullet can be paired to a weapon with nearly perfect accuracy.
Heerah said that even without a weapon, the striations can identify a type and model of firearm, so detectives will know what to look for.
He said firearms could also be traced through a gunman’s sweat from his hands, firing pins, the alignment, size of impression and age of the firearm.
Heerah reiterated that these details were shared as a consideration point to stir conversations and probes to determine whether the authorities were in fact being so detailed in the course of investigative approaches and strategies.
He questioned, however, whether that type of modernised, detailed approach to scientific and forensic investigations was being practised, and whether the T&T Police Service was enhancing the training and development aspect, as was previously advised, to treat with this aspect of scientific and technology-led policing.
Newly appointed Central Division head Ag Snr Supt Floris Hodge-Griffith did not return the T&T Guardian’s calls as to why there was no lockdown of the Enterprise area; why Alexis’ home was not searched for arms and ammunition when he was alive as he was allegedly well-known to the police; and whether there would be more raids in the area for more weapons, ammunition and drugs.