Agent claims robbery/ kidnap; surviving assailant describes sexual encounter
The shooting by a PSP agent of one of his attackers in the early hours of Monday morning is now the subject of various probes.
Expresso, for example, writes that IGAI (the general inspectorate for Internal Administration) has “opened a case to investigate the circumstances in which, a PSP agent killed a man in his home with his service weapon”.
The paper says PJ judicial police are also investigating, adding that the agent has already given evidence to the police. “He spoke and co-operated with us,” said a source close to the case.
But Correio da Manhã understands there is another ‘investigation’ afoot: an internal disciplinary case opened by the PSP themselves.
So far, the version presented by the policeman – aged 48,with 20 years experience in the force and a member of the ‘elite’ Special Police Unit (UEP) – is considered credible, namely that he acted in self-defence.
According to the agent , the drama began at 3.30am at some traffic lights in Algés, in the municipality of Oeiras.
The policeman was not in uniform (was not on duty) and in a civilian car. He was approached by a pair of ‘robbers’, a man and a woman, who forced him into a second car at gunpoint.
He says he was coerced into going to an ATM to withdraw money and then also forced to go to his own home, in Benfica.
Once inside, the agent said he was able to access his service weapon, identify himself as a policeman, and then, due to the fact his assailant was still holding a gun, he shot him through the heart. The man died immediately.
It has since transpired that the gun held by the alleged robber/ kidnapper was not real.
According to Expresso, the kidnappers may simply have been driven by a desire for ‘quick money’ to buy drugs.
The newspaper says it has tried (unsuccessfully) to find out if the PSP agent has returned to active duty, or if he has been taken off sick “or been sanctioned in some way”.
CM however claims he has indeed returned to work, but without his service weapon.
“In spite of everything that happened, and with no great doubts on the legitimacy of his actions, he is already facing three different investigations”, the paper continues, adding only at the end of its main story today that “the version of the assailant’s accomplice” (who had been waiting in the car, in the street, when the shooting happened) differed from that of the PSP agent.
In a small side story, the version is explained as a ‘sexual encounter’.
“The woman detained as an accomplice to the robbery and kidnapping in her first declarations denied any crime, referring to the origin of the incident being a sexual encounter, consensual and previously agreed with the police agent and two other men, one of which fled the scene”, writes CM.
CM has been the first news source to name the dead robber/ kidnapper as 50-year-old Amílar Gomes.
The paper also confirms that the police agent has been questioned by his unit’s commander, Luís Carrilho, and that PJ judicial police have no suspicions over his actions whatsoever.
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
