A unique homemade shotgun made in the shape of a Tech 9 submachine gun, carrying a shooting range of 25 yards, was among four illegal fire arms found at the death house in Braeton, St Catherine where seven youths were shot dead by the police in 2001.

The other guns were a police .38 Special revolver and two .38 Special Ruga revolvers.

However, police ballistics expert Daniel Wray who occupied the witness stand for three days in the trial of the six policemen on trial for murder, told the Home Circuit Court that tests of the firearms revealed that one of the revolvers bearing serial number 2E64395 was robbed from a policeman, Constable Dwight Gibson, in 2000 after retired customs officer Dennis Betton and himself were murdered.

He said tests found that the revolver was also used in the killing of Hartlands High School principal Keith Morris who was shot dead on the morning of March 14, 2001.

Wray explained that the homemade shotgun which he received for testing on March 14, was capable of firing deadly missiles.

“The homemade gun is better made than most,” said Wray.

He described the weapon as having the shape of a Tech 9 and made with a safety feature that is identifiable. The gun barrel uses 12 gauge shotgun cartridges and has a chamber at the rear of the barrel.

“The firing pin is a portion of a nail designed to pull backwards and the firing shell can come back and kill the shooter, but there is a stirrup lever to prevent a recall of the firing shell,” said Wray.

The ballistics expert also found that the shotgun was recently fired.

He also received, for testing, ten 12-gauge shotgun cartridges loaded with number four buck shots (pellets) which fits the homemade shot gun.

Wray testified that the .38 revolver, serial number 2D64395, was a military and police issue; that the serial number of the model 38 revolver 161769 was not showing; the .38 Special Ruga serial number 156-97216 was erased, but he used a process called etching to retrieve the numbers. Tests, he continued, proved that they were capable of firing deadly missiles.

Tests also concluded that gunfire came from all the firearms, but there could be repeat reloads to the police firearm.

Wray also told the court that although he saw no evidence of shotgun cartridges in the house, revolver shots could have caused the burning of the curtains he found in the kitchen.

Under re-examination from crown prosecutor senior deputy Director of Public prosecutions Paula Llewelyn, Wray said further that the homemade shotgun was not a safe weapon as the pellets go forward when fired and the shells, backward.

He said it was a dangerous weapon as it shoots 27 pellets from one buck shot.

Assistant commissioner of police Granville Gause in charge of the BSI, who also took the stand Tuesday, testified that in November 2003, he executed six warrants for murder on the cops.

The six policemen – Sergeant Raymond Miller, Corporal Linroy Edwards, and constables Leighton Bucknor, Wayne Constantine, Miguel Ebanks and Devon Bernard – are on trial for the non-capital murders of Andre Virgo, 19; Lancebert Clarke, 19; Dayne Whyte, 20; Tamayo Wilson, 20; Curtis Smith, 19; Christopher Grant, 17; and Reagon Beckford, 15.

Gause said when he cautioned the accused cops, they said that they were only carrying out their duty.

The trial continues tomorrow.

– whytetk@jamaicaobserver.com