St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): The death of 21 -year- old Customs Officer Andrew Douglas, while on duty at the Customs Department on St. Kitts on September 17, 2020, has sparked widespread debate, accusations, and speculation on social media.
The Police published a report that an autopsy concluded that Douglas had died from a single gunshot wound to the head but stopped short of indicating if the wound appeared self-inflicted or whether they were investigating a homicide.
At the prime minister press conference on Thursday (October 1), WINN asked if the Customs Officer’s wound appeared self-inflicted or whether police were investigating a homicide.
“Police are still carrying out an investigation. As of Monday, the post mortem, the autopsy, was done by our resident pathologist and the information was provided to the police. We are still waiting for some items, the results of some items, that were sent overseas for forensic analysis. Until such time we are not in a position to make a decision on that matter,” responded Police Commissioner Hilroy Brandy.
The Customs Officer’s death was confirmed in a police press release on September 18.
“…officers responded to the report of a shooting at the Department sometime after 1 p.m. Preliminary investigations so far have revealed that 21-year-old Andrew Douglas, who was a Customs Officer at the Department received a single gunshot wound to the head. He was taken to the JNF General Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.”
The autopsy was conducted by Resident Pathologist, Dr. Adrian Nunez on September 21, 2020, and concluded that death was as a result of severe traumatic brain injury caused by a single gunshot wound to the head,” police said later.
At Thursday’s press briefing hosted by the Prime Minister, Comptroller of Customs Jomo Butler publicly commented on the young man’s death.
“Customs is very saddened by the loss of a fellow officer, Mr. Andrew Robin Douglas. I take this opportunity to express our sincerest condolence to the family clip… we have provided support…we sought to reach out to staff in face -to- face meeting so we were able to identify individuals traumatized by this event…” said Butler, who thanked the government for providing counselors for the staff.
He also expressed confidence in the professionalism of the officers conducting the investigations but said he couldn’t comment at this stage
