– acting Crime Chief
Guyana’s law enforcement officials are awaiting feedback from their overseas counterparts in relation to a request for assistance in solving the shooting incident of Director and Principal of School of the Nations, Dr Brian O’Toole, which occurred over five months ago.
This is according to Crime Chief (ag), Senior Superintendent Michael Kingston, who, in a telephone interview with Guyana Times International on Monday, said a lot of work has already been done by local Police, but there is need for foreign assistance in this matter.
“Every bit of information that Mr O’Toole came to us with…was checked out, and he was given a feedback. Every person — even to the last person that he pointed fingers at — we would have arrested…(and)questioned…in detail,” the acting Crime Chief said.
“We would have contacted our foreign counterparts and asked them to check some further information for us; but, like every other thing, we have to wait on them to give us a response,” Kingston explained.
He said that, in relation to the shooting incident, Dr O’Toole would have been privy to the progress of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) in solving the crime committed against him.
“The fact is that we have a file, we have a file on the matter; a very thick one too, because we had questioned a number of persons, and we also sought legal advice on the matter and we were advised to do some additional work,” the acting Crime Chief detailed.
In a recent letter to the editor, Dr O’Toole lamented that although a lot of time had elapsed since he had been shot, he was not aware of anyone being arrested for the crime.
“Reports have been made by me to the Police about a certain individual who is accused of being a prominent drug dealer in at least five schools. Persons have approached me to say that this sad young man has threatened them that, if they come forward to identify him, they ‘will regret it.’ All this has been given to the police,” his letter stated.
According to Dr O’Toole, this is the same individual whom he believes was involved in the shooting, since “there are, of course, more ways to be involved than pulling a trigger.”
He also made reference to reports that were made to the American Embassy several weeks ago, about a certain young man residing in the USA, who admitted to making the first post, back in January last, to blow up the school in question.
“According to the Police report (that) we were given, the same boy was interviewed – his defence was simply ‘it was only a joke.’ Four hours after that posting, I was shot and narrowly missed being murdered. He then posted again, asking for immunity and promising to give all the information about the shooting if he was given ‘protection’. And then, a few weeks ago, we were given a recording from the same boy, clearly laughing at the shooting,” Dr O’Toole added.
Dr O’Toole also said he had heard nothing further from the local Police or American Embassy, although five months have passed since the shooting incident had taken place.
On January 27 last, Dr O’Toole was shot three times as he was returning to his Bel Air, Georgetown residence, hours after he had held an emergency meeting with parents and guardians of students attending his school about violent threats made on social media to injure students and teachers of that school.
Earlier this year, the now suspended Crime Chief, Deputy Police Commissioner Lyndon Alves, told this newspaper that Police had questioned four persons — both current and former students — in relation to Dr O’Toole’s shooting.
However, subsequent to that incident, several threats against that school appeared on Facebook. They were made by “Kira” (meaning killer), which is the alias of the main character in “Death Note” – a Japanese manga series that was later adapted into films.
