Nine persons including four women were injured and admitted to the Colombo National Hospital in a shooting that took place near the sixth gate of the Colombo Port on Monday night. Police Spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa said that a security guard at a construction site had opened fire at a group of people who tried to snatch the firearm of the guard after the security guards arrested two people who came to steal iron at a road development site near the Colombo port.Later a group of people who came to the location had tried to snatch the firearms of the guards in a bid to get the suspects released.
A senior police official who is investigating the shooting said that apart from the condition of one person who was injured and hospitalised, the condition of the others is not serious.
The police say only one shot had been fired with a 12 bore shotgun. The officer said that nine people were injured in one shot because when the shot was fired, the bullet parts scattered and came out in pieces.
Police said that the relevant construction company had observed that the wires and equipment that have been brought and piled here for the construction work have been stolen for sometime. The construction company had taken the assistance of a private security firm for the security of the property at the work site.
Police said that two drug addicts entered the port area Monday night (1) and were caught by the security officers while they were stealing wires from the highway worksite. While they were being held there, one person had shouted for help and a group of people who were living nearby had arrived at the location. Police say that more than twenty people broke into the place and one person attacked one security officer.
Police Media Spokesman Nihal Talduwa said that when the security officer fired a shot in the air to disperse the crowd, the crowd tried to grab his firearm.
Another security officer had shot those who were behaving violently. Police investigating the shooting have taken statements from the nine persons who were injured and were hospitalised and from four security guards including the security officer of the security company that carried out the shooting. Police say that they will take steps to report the facts to the court in this regard.