{EOP}Lahore shooting, clear case of murder: Police

Police escort an armoured vehicle carrying Raymond Davis, as it arrives at court in Lahore on February 11, 2011. PHOTO: AFP

LAHORE: Police on Friday rejected the self-defence claim made by Raymond Davis who shot two men in broad daylight in Lahore late last month, saying it was a clear case of murder.

Speaking to the media in Lahore, Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore Aslam Tareen said that eyewitness accounts and forensic reports have shown that Davis did not shoot the men in self-defence.

“His plea has been rejected by police investigators,” he said. “He gave no chance to them to survive. That is why we consider it was not self-defence. We have proof it was not self-defence. It was clear murder.”

“It was cold-blooded murder. Eye witnesses have told police that he directly shot at them and he kept shooting even when one was running away. It was an intentional murder,” Tareen reiterated.

He said no finger prints had been found on the triggers of the pistols found on the bodies of the two men and that tests showed the bullets remained in the magazine of their gun, and not the chamber.

The CCPO said that the investigation team had recovered a GPS tracker, mobile phones, wireless sets, a survival kit and photographs from Davis’s car. He said that Davis had kept quiet throughout the investigation.

He said that an incomplete chargesheet under Section 302 had been submitted.

Speaking on the suspects whose car had struck Ebadur Rehman, Tareen said that details were missing and the suspects had still not been handed over to the police. He said that the Punjab government had written to the Federal Government regarding the case and had also sent a fifth reminder.

Earlier, a lower court in Lahore had sent Davis to jail on a 14-day judicial remand, after investigation into the shootings of the two men had been complete.

“He has been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. The next hearing will be on February 25,” Punjab government prosecutor Abdul Samad told reporters.

“He is being sent to central jail Kot Lakhpat,” said police official Suhail Sukhera in reference to the high-security prison in the eastern city of Lahore, where the US official confessed to shooting two men in self-defence last month.

Background

Davis was arrested on January 27 after shooting dead two Pakistanis in Lahore in what Davis says was an act of self-defence during an attempted robbery.

Davis told the court on Friday that he opened fire on two motorcyclists in self-defence, fearing that they were about to rob him. The two men later died in the hospital.

A third Pakistani was run down and killed when US personnel in an consulate SUV apparently tried to rescue Davis, police said.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/117419/investigation-finds-raymond-davis-guilty-of-murder/