Video footage obtained by Guardian Media disputes a claim made by the family of Ackimo Cobham that he was innocently shot by an off-duty policeman in Marabella on Friday night.
Cobham’s relatives had challenged a police report that Cobham and another person were shot after they attempted to rob the police officer of his vehicle. Cobham died on the scene and a gun was found next to his body.
However, footage seen by Guardian Media shows Cobham and the other man running up to the car which was parked in front of a house. With guns pointing, Cobham and his friend ran up the street towards the front of the vehicle. As Cobham opened the front passenger door of the car, the policeman shot him with his licensed firearm.
The officer also shot at the second man who still had his gun pointed in his direction. The man ran off but later went to the San Fernando General Hospital to seek medical attention. He is still warded under police guard.
The officer had gone to the area to visit with his relatives.
Cobham’s aunt Debra Sandy claimed that her nephew and his friend were sitting on a culvert along New Haven Avenue when the policeman walked up to them. There was an exchange of words, she claimed. She alleged the officer then shot Cobham in the head and shot his friend. Cobham was charged for robbing a gas station at Pointe-a-Pierre last year. He was also fined $11,000 last year on a second drunk driving conviction. Cobham’s father, Ruthven Sandy, 63, was one of three people killed in a shooting incident at a bar in Marabella in October 2017. His aunt said Cobham always felt the police wanted to kill him. The officer, who is a prosecutor at the San Fernando Magistrates Court, was not in work on Monday.
Snr Supt Zamsheed Mohammed has said that an investigating is ongoing.