Police continue to probe teen’s death, foul play not ruled out

Police are trying to reconstruct the scene in which 17-year-old Andel Daniel allegedly accidentally shot himself at Cathrinaburg, Canje Creek, last Thursday.

Divisional Commander Ian Amsterdam says the Police have not ruled out foul play.

According to Amsterdam, the Police were able to get vital information from the man who took the injured teen in a paddle boat to seek medical attention. The man is the only person who allegedly saw Daniel at the home after he was shot.

“That man said when he saw him, he had the gun in his hand: he was using it like a walking stick. So he was limping with that as a support heading towards the boat.”

It was reported that Daniel, of Caracasville, West Canje, was descending the stairs of a farmhouse at Cathrinaburg, armed with a loaded shotgun, when the stairs collapsed and a round was discharged from the weapon, hitting him in the abdomen. He was rushed to the Barakara Health Centre by a Neighbourhood Police Officer and was transferred to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, where a Doctor pronounced him dead on arrival. A post-mortem conducted on the body of Daniel showed that he died of shock and haemorrhage resulting from a gunshot wound.

Commander Amsterdam said several pellets were removed from the body. “What we now have to check is that if the gun itself had the spent shells, so we would now have to take all the pellets to check and see if they came from the spent shell and if that was actually the weapon used. Then we will have to put the pieces together to see how the firearm went off hitting him in the abdomen.”

The Police have so far been able to determine that the firearm, which was recovered, is unlicensed.

“We are talking to the relatives who have their own suspicion and they are all saying that it was as a result of an accident and that the gun belongs to him,” Amsterdam said. (Andrew Carmichael)