The police file on 18-year-old Jared Jagnandan, who was fatally shot at Shaf Auto Sales, Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, has been returned to the police from the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) with the advice for further investigations to be done, the chambers’ public relations officer Liz Rahaman said yesterday.
Head of the Guyana Police Force Corporate Communications Unit, Mark Ramotar, later confirmed this fact.
According to Rahaman, the file was first received by the DPP on March 26th and returned to the force on April 29th with the advice for further investigation. It was explained that after the file was pursued it was discovered that a “number of things were missing” and so the Chambers returned it for some grey areas to be cleared up by the police. The file was returned this month and again sent back to the force on May 20th for further investigation, she explained. Instruction was also given for the file to be returned promptly for further legal advice.
On Tuesday the distraught parents of Jagnandan in a press release expressed dissatisfaction in the way in which the matter is being dealt with by the relevant authorities. They continue to demand answers from the police over the circumstances of the death of their son as the security guard is yet to be charged.
“At this time, some two months after our son was killed, no charge has been laid. The police have suggested that the file has gone to the DPP’s office for advice. Our attorney told us that it does not ordinarily take this long for a matter to be investigated and advised upon. We, Avalon and Reshma Jagnandan, feel we have no choice but to address the public on something that has halted our life as we knew it and the only way we can hope to get back to some semblance of normalcy is if we can get justice,” the parents said in the release.
A police release on the shooting had said that enquiries disclosed that Shaf Auto Sales is owned by a 27-year-old who resides in Canada and the business is operated by his brother.
According to the statement, the businessman said that at about 11:08 am, he and his wife returned to the store after transacting business. At the time they met the security guard on duty and Jagnandan seated in a chair, a short distance away from the security officer’s desk.
The statement had said that according to the businessman “he and his wife proceeded to his office and a few minutes later, they heard a loud explosion in the store”.
The businessman said he immediately exited his office and saw the teen lying motionless on the ground with blood about the lower section of his body.
The security officer then told him that the teen had been shot, according to the statement from the police.
Jagnandan was picked up in an unconscious state and placed in a motor car, which is owned by Cerberus Security Service and taken to Woodlands Hospital where he was seen and examined by a doctor and later succumbed.
The matter was reported to Vigilance Police Station at about 2.10 pm, the police stated.
Acting on the information received, the GPF said that they went to Woodlands Hospital where the body was examined and a gunshot wound was seen on the upper left leg.
Initially, the guard who was a suspect in the matter, was arrested at Vigilance Police Station and the shotgun lodged along with five live cartridges and one spent shell. He is no longer in police custody.
