A Police officer is recovering at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital after he was injured during a gun battle with men suspected to be in possession of drugs.
The Weekend Observer understands that three Police officers in civilian clothes were involved in the shoot out at Fasito’o-uta on Thursday evening.
One officer was reportedly shot on the leg.
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The Assistant Police Commissioner, Fauono Talalelei Tapu, confirmed the incident yesterday but was not liberty to reveal the details.
He said a Police investigation is underway and he will reveal the details when he is a position to do so.
Contacted for a comment, a hospital official confirmed that a Police officer was shot and admitted to the Emergency Room. He has been treated and is “doing well,” the official said.
Back at Fasito’o-uta yesterday evening, members of the family whose front yard became the battleground for the Police and the suspects; were left badly shaken.
The mother who gave her name but asked for it to be withheld from publication for fear of repercussions from the dealers said her family is lucky that no one was killed.
The woman, her husband, daughter and a grandchild were at home when a vehicle which had been chased by the Police stopped “dangerously close to our front door.”
“As soon as the first vehicle stopped, another car turned in and that’s when the men in the first vehicle started shooting towards the second car,” she said.
“There were three men in the second car and one of them was hit.”
Confused about what was happening, the mother yelled to her daughter to call the Police.
“It was only then that one of the men in the second car yelled out that they are Police officers,” she said.
“I understand that at the time no one was at their right mind because everything was a rush but we would have appreciated some form of indication that these people were police officers.”
According to the woman, the Police struggled to get the occupants of the first vehicle out of the car. One of them made a run for it and was caught.
As for the other man, the Police required assistance from an eyewitness to contain him so they could arrest him. “The Police officer who was hit had to be evacuated,” said the mother. “Fifteen minutes after the Police vehicle left, another vehicle drove in to our house. They had come to collect the first vehicle.
“I was so afraid I immediately released it to them out of fear in case it might draw other people onto our property, putting my family’s lives at risk.”
When she first heard gunshots, the mother said the safety of her grandchild was her priority.
“There were three guns, plenty of ammunition. I don't know weapons too well but the men (suspects) had something that looked like a machine gun. They also had bundles of marijuana.”
When the Weekend Observer was interviewing the woman last evening, a van full of Police officers arrived at the family’s home.
They spent the evening combing the place as part of their investigation.
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