The man who claimed bandits robbed him at gunpoint in La Romaine and used his Nissan X-Trail van to try to escape the police after Monday's deadly heist is now in custody as a "person of interest."
The suspect is a TT Regiment member based at Camp Serrette (Second Infantry Battalion) at the M2 Ring Road in La Romaine. He is a private in his 20s who lives in the Fyzabad area.
The police also detained two other suspects, from Arouca, in connection with the robbery and subsequent "carjacking" outside La Romaine Plaza that left two security dead, one hospitalised, one discharged, and a child with injuries.
The police said the "young soldier" reported that he was looking for "a place to tint his van" and made a wrong turn. The wrong turn was into a new housing settlement across the road from his workplace. He reported that gunmen in a white car blocked the road and ordered him out of his white van.
The gunmen abandoned and burnt the car at the roadside along the M2 Ring Road, then left in his van.
Newsday learned that the police also searched the soldier's locker at the camp.
Senior police confirmed that apart from the three detained men, no one else was in custody up to Tuesday evening, contrary to social media reports.
A senior policeman told Newsday, "We cannot say where these stories are coming from. We do not have information about him training anyone. We do not have a female in custody. People are saying all sorts of things."
About an hour before the "carjacking," five men ambushed and shot at an unarmored van with three security officers employed with Allied Security Ltd, hitting them. Jeffery Peters, 51, and Jerry "Bat" Stuart, 49, died, while their colleague Peola Baptiste, 57, is critical in hospital. They were transporting money.
The police said Allister Harris, 47, who works with Phoenix Protective Services at the plaza, was also hit. He received minor injuries and was treated and discharged on Monday.
A nine-year-old child from the Siparia was also grazed, the police reported. His injuries are not life-threatening.
In full view of drivers and customers at the plaza, the gunmen left with bags containing undisclosed cash.
It was while fleeing that they met the soldier and changed vehicles.
But the police, hot on their heels, caught up with them in a street off Pond Street. The gunmen abandoned the van, ran through a track, and jumped over a wall into a property of a retired probation officer, Ann-Marie Elbourne-County.
The certified mediation practitioner and her family, including two children, locked themselves inside. Moments later, the police responded.
The gunmen began shooting at the police, who returned fire, hitting four.
[caption id="attachment_976073" align="alignnone" width="1024"] From left, Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob, La Romain resident Ann-Marie Elbourne-County, and police victims support unit officers Bernadette Sealey and Ayanna Phillip at Elbourne-County's home on Tuesday. - ROGER JACOB[/caption]
The injured men were taken to the San Fernando General
