By John McPhaul
About 100 off-duty police officers from different parts of Puerto Rico showed up voluntarily on Saturday to reinforce their colleagues, who occupied the Sabana Abajo residential complex in Carolina after Police Commissioner Antonio López Figueroa ordered the officers to remain in place until they find those responsible for the slaying of police Sgt. Eliezer Ramos Vélez on Friday.
López Figueroa praised the commitment and solidarity of the agents who have been arriving, without being called upon to do so, to support the effort at Sabana Abajo. Earlier on Saturday, he announced that police had occupied five other residential properties in connection with the killing of officer Ramos Vélez.
“We are going to increase the interventions, until and as soon as we manage to solve the murder of the policeman,” López Figueroa said at the Lagos de Blasina residential complex in Carolina. “We are going to continue with these interventions as long as necessary in these residential areas that are part of the Sabana Abajo criminal organization.”
The police commissioner said Friday that a person of interest was in custody in the case.
“We continue with the investigation of the murder of Eliezer Ramos Vélez,” he said. “We have several full coordination working groups with the federal agencies that are here by my side. We are intervening in several places in the Sabana Abajo residential area. A number of people have been approached, who are persons of interest in the case.”
“I believe that we are on the right track,” López Figueroa added, while urging citizens to continue supporting the police with information that could lead to the apprehension of those responsible.
“In Sabana Abajo, many good people, many productive people, are helping us to give the best quality of life by intervening with these people,” he said.
The police chief said the detainee, who has not been identified, is being interviewed by police officers to determine how he is related to the case.
“Those details are in the possession of the agent himself, Agent Torres, who is investigating the case, and the assigned unit officer,” López Figueroa said. “And we ask the public, 787.343.2020, is the number to call. We are ready to receive any information that comes in …”
“We’re going to continue until the people who were directly involved in Eliezer’s murder are placed under arrest, right?,” the police commissioner continued. “And that’s the purpose. They killed an innocent policeman, a responsible policeman committed to his job. And believe me, in God’s name, this is going to be cleared up, and we’re going to be able to give the family peace of mind.”
According to the information available, Sgt. Eliezer Ramos Vélez, 35, left his shift at about 4 a.m. On the way to his residence on the Román Baldorioty de Castro Expressway, he saw some people on motorbikes and an all-terrain vehicle (four-track) engaging in gunfire. The officer, a 12-year police veteran who served as an agent in special operations, followed them in his blue Hyundai Tucson vehicle to the Sabana Abajo complex, where he was killed at 4:25 a.m.
The sergeant’s equipment and his regulation firearm were stolen.
López Figueroa noted that the operation includes the El Faro, El Coral, La Esmeralda, Los Mirtos and Lagos de Blasina residential complexes in Carolina. He said the five residential complexes are lorded over by the criminal organization to which the people wanted by the authorities allegedly belong.
Also on Friday, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia declared three days of mourning in memory of Ramos Vélez, with all flags on public buildings remaining at half-mast from today until sunset on Wednesday.
“It has been a tragic day for Puerto Rico and it is with deep sorrow that we come together as a people to extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Agent Ramos Vélez,” the governor said in a written statement. “These acts of violence and contempt for life have no place in the Puerto Rico we all want. We all repudiate this vile murder, and the Puerto Rico Police will not stop until it is solved and the guilty pay for their actions. May God keep in his glory this public servant who lost his life, while protecting our people. We recognize him and all the members of the Puerto Rico Police for the sacrifice they make every day and we assure them that Agent Eliezer Ramos Vélez will never be forgotten.”
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