The cop who killed himself twice

Sep 15, 2013 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

By Michael Jordan
If there is one thing that retired Senior Superintendent of Police Ivan Daniels is sure of, it is that his son is no killer.
Call it a father’s love, but the last time we spoke, Mr. Daniels still refused to believe that his son, 32-year-old Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Ivelaw Murray, went berserk and shot a 22-year-old police constable dead, before going to his Hashim Street, Springlands home and killing himself.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Ivelaw Murray

And the trouble is, some of Mr. Daniels’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. Then there are the rumours that persist, that the ASP found out something that caused his death.
But first, the official version of what happened.
According to the police, at around midnight, on Sunday, July 4, 2010, ASP Murray and Constable 20631 Kevin Shepherd were heard arguing in the barrack room at the Springlands Police Station. Later, a gunshot was heard in the barrack room and the Subordinate Officer in charge of traffic ran to see what had happened.
As the Subordinate Officer was going up the stairs leading to the barrack room, he allegedly saw ASP 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 motionless, with a gunshot wound to his head. He was dead. No spent shell was found at the scene, despite checks.
Senior police officers then attempted to locate ASP Murray, but were unable to.
Eventually, at around 03:25 hours, ranks entered his home through an open door and found him on the living room floor, with a gunshot wound below the chin and one of the Force’s service revolvers in his hand. He was also dead.
The revolver reportedly had three live rounds and there were three spent shells.
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 at each other’s home.
Adding fuel to the suspicions of an inappropriate relationship were allegations by the constable’s father, Gurtley Shepherd. He said that his son was on four days’ leave and was to have returned to work on that fateful day, Sunday, July 4.
However, he said, on Saturday, July 3, his son informed him that he had to go to work, 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.

Constable 20631 Kevin Shepherd.

On Wednesday, July 7, 2010, forensic pathologist Dr. Vivekanand Brijmohan performed autopsies on the two men.
Police officials confirmed that Dr. Brijmohan discovered that Murray 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 was that the wound below the chin would have rendered Murray incapable of pulling the trigger a second time. But opinions differed as to whether Murray could have shot himself again.
One medical source opined that if the bullet had missed the brain, “the possibility exists” that Murray could have shot twice.
“It’s not something that you see often, but it is possible,” the expert said.
Explaining that persons could survive for hours with such gunshot wounds, the medical official recounted an incident in which a man who was shot in the mouth, bled to death some three hours later.
“I also got a case where a man was shot in the nose. The bullet lodged behind the eye and he could not remember being shot.”
He died before undergoing surgery.
Medical data also show that there have been cases of multiple gunshot suicides.
Some of the data stated that “multiple gunshot suicides engender controversy because of the popular misconception that it is impossible for an individual to inflict more than one gunshot upon themselves.
“Forensic medicine has discovered, however, that suicides by firearm involving multiple gunshots, although uncommon, are by no means rare.”
But pathologist Dr. Brijmohan was reportedly so troubled by the presence of the two bullet wounds on ASP Murray’s body that he requested to be taken to Murray’s home, where he could examine the scene.
The source said that Dr. Brijmohan 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 was recovered, though one was reportedly retrieved from Constable Shepherd’s body. Acting on information about the case, Dr. Brijmohan reportedly examined the bodies of both victims for evidence of a homosexual relationship. He reportedly found no such evidence.
Perhaps the only two people who were not surprised by the autopsy were retired Senior Superintendent Daniels and his wife, Jenitta.
For them, it only helped to confirm their suspicions of a conspiracy.
Perhaps nothing has incensed ASP Murray’s parents more than the suggestions that he was a homosexual, and that Constable Shepherd’s murder and his ‘suicide’ were as a result of a soured relationship.
“He was definitely not (a homosexual)”, Mr. Daniels said. “All of his ‘squaddies say that there was not an iota of evidence that he had those tendencies. “He was a real man. He had a wife and a one-year-old daughter. The people who are spreading these rumours are part and parcel of a plot to murder him.”
The parents have claimed that their son had information about an apparent cover-up in a murder.
According to Jenitta Daniels, her son had confided in her about the case, while claiming that the suspect was attempting to bribe him. Even the surfacing of an apparent ‘suicide note’, allegedly written by her son, failed to shake the couple’s belief that he had been 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 they saying that he shot himself twice, then got up and ‘disappeared’ with the warhead? What are they hiding?”
But things would become even more bizarre when the slain constable’s mother, Patricia Shepherd, came forward with a recording from her son’s phone. The recording appeared to be between Murray and Shepherd, with ASP Murray apparently berating the constable about a relationship that the constable was having with a female.
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. Gunpowder residue is said to remain on surface areas for 78 hours. It was said that forensic experts swabbed Murray’s hands within this period and found no trace of gunpowder. Nevertheless, a forensic expert believes that there should have been substantial traces of gunpowder on Murray’s hands, given the fact that he allegedly discharged three gunshots on the fateful night.
“It (the residue) is supposed to be heavy, taking into account the number of shots he was supposed to have fired.”
In addition, some investigators feel that the forensic team should have also checked the ranks who worked on the day of the tragedy for traces of gunpowder.
Mr. Daniels had said that he is determined to find out the truth about his son’s demise. He contemplated 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 had also hoped that their son, who served the Guyana Police Force for 16 years, would have been buried with honours. This was not to be.
If you have any information about these or any other unusual cases, please contact us by letter or telephone at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown office. Our numbers are 22-58465, 22-58458 and 22-58452. You need not disclose your identity.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address: [email protected]