The investigation of the almost year-old shooting of School of the Nations Director Dr Brian O’Toole is at a standstill and both he and the police are split on the reason why his assailant has not yet been brought to justice.
When contacted for an update on the police investigation on Monday, Crime Chief (ag) Michael Kingston told Stabroek News that there is a “thick file” on the investigation, which remains open. “We have a thick file, we have a thick investigating file…The investigation is not closed. Any bit of information we get, we pursue it,” he said.
Kingston, however, noted that unless O’Toole divulges the information which he claims he has, which might lead to the alleged shooter, the matter is likely to remain unsolved.
“Mr O’Toole on several occasions was contacted by the investigator of this matter. He said that he knows somebody who has information and we have been asking him to take us to the person so that we can have a statement…He is not doing it…I don’t know how Mr O’Toole expects this matter to be solved,” Kingston explained.
“…We asked him to just give us the name, let us approach the people and he is not doing it…We have been continuously asking him to give us the information of the persons who he claims have information. He is not doing it and until he is prepared to do it, we are [not] going to move forward with the investigation,” he added.
Kingston further revealed that presently, the police have no information on the alleged shooter.
“No, we can’t, we don’t. He said he has that information through some parent or something and we asked him to give us the name…We will find a way to cut around and see how we can extract the information from the person and he is not cooperating to give us the name and he continues to write and bombard the police and he is not cooperating,” he said.
However, O’Toole denied Kingston’s statements. Rather, he said, two days after the shooting, he provided the police with a description of the alleged shooter which hasn’t changed to date. “…I gave them all that description on the second day. That description has never changed. That’s total rubbish,” O’Toole said.
Kingston told Stabroek News that from the inception, investigators have worked on “every bit of information” that was provided to them by O’Toole.
“…We have done everything… Every bit of information Mr Brian O’Toole has bought to the police, we have checked it out, we have worked on it. Every piece of information. Everybody name Mr O’Toole has called, students and everybody, we have arrested them, questioned them in detail,” Kingston added.
He said the police even sought international assistance in the matter.
“He must say why he is not giving us the name of the parent that he claims knows,” Kingston said.
O’Toole was shot at his home on January 27th, hours after he had called a meeting at the school to address threats that had surfaced online against the institution’s student body. The threats were made via Facebook and police and cybersecurity experts have been trying to locate the individual responsible.
The shooting resulted in the paralysis of O’Toole’s left hand. He has since undergone five surgeries on the hand.
The school was temporarily closed after parents expressed their fears about security in light of the threats and the subsequent shooting of O’Toole. Prior to reopening, the school intensified its security and adopted an active shooter response plan.
Dissatisfied with the police investigation, parents also staged a peaceful protest in front of the Ministry of Public Security’s Brickdam office, where they announced a $1 million reward for any information that may lead to the arrest of the perpetrator/s.
Information that was circulated suggested that the shooter was identified and had gone to the United States.
