RALPH BANWARIE
A security guard was killed during a shootout with bandits at a bar in Maturita, Arima, yesterday.
Police said Joel Punette, 55, a security guard with Thor Security, of Enterprise, Chaguanas, was shot dead by three bandits when he engaged them as they attempted to rob a van which was delivering cigarettes to a parlour at Kingdom Avenue around 8.35 am.
Punette, a father of two, was hit in the head, chest and parts of his body and died on the spot. The bandits got away with the delivery vehicle and $200,000 worth of cigarettes. Police were unable to say if any cash or how much was taken in the robbery.
Police said while the van driver was conducting the sales transaction, three armed bandits ran towards the parlour and one of them entered and announced a hold-up. But Punette drew his gun and began to fire at the bandit. However, he was later shot by the other two bandits who joined their associate. The bandits took Punette’s gun and the keys for the delivery vehicle, which they later drove off in.
An all-points bulletin was sent out by the police and the van was later found abandoned at Cave Road, Guanapo, without its cigarette cargo. Police attached to the Task Force, CID, and Crime Patrol Unit went in search of the bandits but were unsuccessful.
At the scene yesterday, Punette’s wife, Lisa, was unable to speak to the media.
Visiting the scene were Supt Neville Sankar, Insp Guyan, Sgt Thomas, PCs Thomas and Carrington and Arima police. They were later joined by Homicide and CSI officers. DMO Dr Ramroop viewed the body and ordered its removal to the Forensic Science Centre, St James, for an autopsy.
Insp Guyan of Arima CID is continuing inquiries.
This is the second robbery in Maturita where a security guard was killed by bandits in the past two months. On September 10 at the Cantonese Super Store on the Eastern Main Road, Maturita, security officer Vijay Maharaj was shot dead by bandits while three other people suffered gunshot wounds.
Cpl Jeanville of Arima CID is continuing inquiries into the incident.
In another gun-related shooting in the same community half an hour later, a man whose name was given only as Sean, of Tamana, was shot several times about his body. He remained at Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, in critical condition last night.
Police said Sean was working on a box drain at Moonan Drive, Bye-Pass Road, Maturita, a short distance away from where Punette was killed, when a gunman approached him and opened fire.