Hours after a senior police officer was shot dead during a carjacking outside his Point Lisas home, eight suspects were rounded up for questioning in connection with the incident.

Acting Superintendent
Joel Nedd.

Hours after a senior police officer was shot dead during a carjacking outside his Point Lisas home, eight suspects were rounded up for questioning in connection with the incident. Up to late yesterday the suspects, all from the Chaguanas area, remained in custody. Acting Superintendent Joel Nedd, 57, an officer with more than 40 years service, was confronted by two men shortly after he arrived at his Pelican Avenue home, Pt Lisas Gardens, Couva, at around 9.45 pm on Monday night. According to reports, Nedd was shot as he struggled with his assailants. He attempted to run and was shot in the back. Nedd collapsed and died. The suspects fled the scene in Nedd’s burgundy Almera car. It was found abandoned yesterday morning at Tom Street, Longdenville, not far from the Couva Police Station. Another vehicle which investigators said was used by the robbers was found at Crown Trace, Enterprise, Chaguanas.

Nedd, who was assigned to the Guard and Emergency Branch, Port-of-Spain, and had previously served in Central Division and as a drill instructor at the Police Training College, was due to retire next year. Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs, Deputy Commissioner Maurice Piggott and Assistant Commissioner Fitzroy Fredericks, along with other officers, visited the crime scene. The body was viewed by the district medical officer and ordered removed to the Forensic Science Centre for an autopsy. Police said Nedd had just returned home after an official engagement and did not have time to enter the premises when he was accosted by the robbers. Relatives at the scene on Monday night said they heard loud explosions but thought it was “scratch bombs and firecrackers.” They said Nedd “was a good man because he was always in church.” In a release yesterday, the T&T Police Service extended condolences to Nedd’s family and colleagues. Nedd, who was an archbishop in the Spiritual Baptist Faith, was being mourned yesterday by the Baptist community.