By EFE
Mar 29, 2024, 2:23 PM EDT
San Juan – The Puerto Rico Police occupied a public housing complex in the municipality of Carolina this Friday after the murder of an agent due to shots fired by armed men who hid in that place.
Police officer Eliezer Ramos Vélez, 35, was killed outside the Sabana Abajo residential area, where he chased some individuals who were involved in a shootout between vehicles on the Román Baldorioty de Castro expressway, in the metropolitan area.
“The residential complex will be occupied by the Puerto Rico Police 24 hours or indefinitely, until we find the whereabouts of the people who committed this vile murder,” the Commissioner of the Police Bureau, Antonio López, assured journalists. Figueroa.
The commissioner indicated that they will deploy all efforts to identify and arrest the gunmen who ended the agent’s life, both in the residential complex and in other places of interest.
“They killed a police officer on duty and I am not going to allow that,” López Figueroa stressed after the murder of the first agent this year in the line of duty.
Police intervened when he was off duty
Ramos Vélez, with 12 years of service and assigned to the Auxiliary Superintendency of Special Operations (SAOE), was activated while on duty when he observed the shooting while heading towards his home.
His body, with gunshot wounds to the face and head, was found inside his personal vehicle, a Hyundai Tucson, by the units that went to the residential complex after receiving a tip about the shooting.
There are numerous expressions of condolences expressed in recent hours, among them from Governor Pedro Pierluisi and the Secretary of Justice, Domingo Emanuelli Hernández.
“Their dedication and dedication are testament to the great commitment of the Police to the safety of our people. With a broken heart, we appreciate your service and as a people we unite in solidarity and gratitude,” Pierluisi wrote on social networks.