The cop who killed himself twice

Jul 11, 2010 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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By Michael Jordan

If there is one thing that retired Police Senior Superintendant Ivan Daniels is sure of, it is that his son is no killer.
Call it a father’s love, but Mr. Daniels refuses to believe that his son, 32-year-old Assistant Superintendant Ivelaw Murray, went berserk on Sunday, July 4, 2010, and shot a 2-year-old police constable dead before going to his Hashim Street Springlands home and killing himself.
And the trouble is, some of Mr. Daniel’s former colleagues also feel that there are bits and pieces that just don’t add up; like the two gunshot wounds to the head, and the absence of warheads at the crime scene, among other things.
But first, the official version of what happened at the Springlands Police Station two Sundays ago.
According to the police, at around midnight, ASP Murray and Constable 20631 Kevin Shepherd were heard arguing in the barrack-room of the Springlands Police Station.
Later, a gunshot was heard in the barrack room and the Subordinate Officer in charge of Traffic at the station ran to see what had happened.
As the Subordinate Officer was going up the stairs leading to the Barrack Room, he saw Assistant Superintendent Ivelaw Murray hurriedly coming down the stairs.
He enquired from Murray what had happened but Murray did not answer and left the station compound.
The Traffic Subordinate Officer then entered the barrack room where he found Constable Shepherd lying dead with gunshot wound to his head.
Checks were made but no spent shell was found at the scene.
Senior police officers then attempted to locate Murray but were unable to.
Eventually, at around 03:25 hours ranks entered his home through an open door and found him lying dead on the living room floor with a gunshot wound below the chin and the Force’s service revolver in his hand.
The revolver reportedly had three live rounds and there were reportedly three spent shells.
Police gave no motive for the apparent murder/suicide, but the reports from the police top brass hinted at an unnatural relationship that had gone awry.

Two days after the tragedy, Commissioner of Police Henry Greene told reporters that the two policemen had an “inappropriate relationship.”
Commissioner Greene said he was informed that “the young man” (Constable Shepherd) used to drive ASP Murray’s car, and that the senior rank used to provide meals for the constable.
Greene also said he was informed that the two policemen would stay ate each others’ homes.
Adding fuel to the suspicions of an inappropriate relationship were allegations by constable’s father, Gurtley Shepherd. He said that was on four days leave and was to have returned to work on Sunday, July 4.
However, he said that on Saturday July 3, Kelvin informed him that he has to report for duty, because “his boss man had called” and told him that “he has to report for duty”.
But then some troubling things happened to raise questions about the entire scenario.
On Wednesday, July 7, 2010, forensic pathologist Dr. Vivekanand Bridgemohan performed autopsies on the two men.
Police officials confirmed that Dr. Bridgemohan discovered that Shepherd had been shot twice. One of the bullets had passed through the bottom of his chin, shattered his tongue and palate before exiting in an area between his eyebrows.
The other bullet pierced his right temple and exited through his left temple.
The opinion of some medical experts is that the wound below the chin would have rendered Murray incapable of pulling the trigger a second time.
According to a police source, so troubling was this discovery to the pathologist that he requested to be taken to Murray’s home, where he could examine the scene.
The source said that Dr. Bridgemohan observed that the bullet that had exited just below Murray’s forehead had pierced the roof of his house.
There was reportedly an indentation on one of the walls, where it is believed that the other warhead struck.
None of the warheads were recovered, though one was reportedly retrieved from Constable Shepherd’s body.
Perhaps the only two people who were not surprised by the autopsy were retired ASP Daniels and his wife, Jenitta.
For them, it only helped to confirm their suspicions of a conspiracy.
Perhaps nothing has incensed ASP’s Murray’s parents than the suggestions that he was gay, and that Constable Shepherd’s murder and his ‘suicide’ were as a result of a soured relationship.
“He was definitely not (gay)”, Mr. Daniels said. “All of his ‘squaddies say that there was not an iota of evidence that he had (gay) tendencies.
He was a real man. He had a wife and a one-year-old daughter. The people who are spreading these rumors are part and parcel of a plot to murder him.”
The retired cop believes that the persons who are peddling the stories about his son’s “inappropriate behaviour” are “part and parcel of the plot to murder him.”
Mr. Daniels and his wife, Jenitta, have claimed that their son had information about an apparent cover-up in a recent murder.
According to Jenitta Daniels, her son had confided in her about the case about two months ago, while claiming hat the suspect was attempting to bribe him.
Even the surfacing of an apparent ‘suicide note’, allegedly written by her son, has failed to shake the couple’s belief that he was murdered.
Mrs. Daniels revealed that police officials showed her a note, which was allegedly found at her son’s home after he died.
She said that the note was dated June 27 and was written in script. “It said ‘mommy, I love you. I’m sorry,’ and it had two faces (drawn) on it; one smiling and the other with tears.”
Mrs. Daniels is convinced that her son never wrote that note.
Are hey saying that he shot himself twice, then got up and ‘disappeared’ with the warhead? What are they hiding?”
And perhaps the police must take some blame for failing to eliminate all doubt of a cover-up.
Working on the assumption that they were dealing with a murder/suicide, detectives reportedly did not bother to place Murray’s hands in bags so they could be checked later for traces of gunpowder residue.
In addition, some investigators feel that ranks from the forensic team should have also checked the ranks who worked on the day of the tragedy for traces of gunpowder.
Gunpowder residue is said to remain on surface areas for 78 hours.
But her husband said that he is determined to find out the truth about his son’s demise.
He is contemplating soliciting the assistance of a second pathologist to show that either gunshot his son sustained would have rendered him incapable of firing a second time.
But the couple wants something more for their son who served the Guyana Police Force for 16 years. They want him to be buried with honours.
“I am asking that my son be buried as a policeman with his gun salute. Don’t scandalise his name.”

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