One of the police officers involved in the shooting incident which claimed the life of San Fernando resident Adelle Gilbert on Thursday has proceeded on sick leave. The other officers are still on the job. No one could say how many officers were involved in the incident.
T&T Guardian was told that the officer who has gone on sick leave was involved in an altercation with Gilbert’s common-law wife, Alisha Richards.
Acting Supt Yusuff Gaffar who has been appointed to head the investigation into Gilbert’s death is still compiling the file to send to the Director of Public Prosecutions, sources said.
Yesterday, Gilbert’s grandmother Daphne Gilbert, 74, who had to be hospitalised after she was assaulted by a police officer during the melee on Thursday was still traumatised.
The grandmother of 22 and great grandmother of eight, who was discharged from the San Fernando General Hospital after being treated for an injury to her chest, broke down in tears at her Laurence Street, San Fernando, home yesterday where the incident took place.
Minutes before the shooting, she said people in the area saw one of the policemen wearing a wig on top of a tall commercial building operating a drone which was flying from rooftop to rooftop. When Gilbert saw the police, she said he ran.
“I could not move at all because all I hear is bullets. I was standing by the doorway and the police wanted to pass.”
She said the police officer cursed her and hit her on her left breast and she felt instant pain.
“Nobody ever treat me like this,” she said, adding after Gilbert was shot, “The officer say he going home and sleep comfortable. That break my heart.”
Richards, who was also taken by the police to hospital for treatment, was charged with assaulting a policeman and granted bail on Friday.