Coast Guard officer shot dead

Chaguaramas: The Coast Guard says one of its officers has been shot dead.

In a statement issued this afternoon, Public Relations Officer Kirk jean-baptiste says that around 4 o'clock  yesterday afternoon officers at Staubles Bay responded to a report of a robbery and one of its interceptors, CG 22 went in pursuit of a pirogue heading towards Nelson Island.

The statement indicates that the interceptor approached the Nelson Island jetty and while sailors were moving from their vessel to the jetty a loud explosion was heard. The crew of the interceptor noticed that Ordinary Seaman Mc David was hit.

The interceptor returned to Stauble's Bay where coast guard medics transported Mc David to the St James Infirmary where Mc David succumbed to his injuries at 6.05 last evening.

The coast guard says the shooting is now the subject of a board of inquiry and a police investigation.

It has sent its condolences to the family, batch mates and friends of Mc David.