A teenaged girl yesterday morning pleaded with a gunman not to kill her father – a traffic policeman – but unmoved by her desperate cries for mercy, the killer shot the cop to death.

The gunman had gained entry to Constable Pedro Swaby’s home in Longville Park, Clarendon by climbing through a window that he smashed in about 3:30 yesterday morning.

The cop’s wife, a family friend said yesterday, heard ‘suspicious sounds’ and made an alarm which woke up the 44-year-old policeman. Swaby, the source said, immediately went to investigate and confronted the intruder.

“They were struggling and then he shot Pedro in his neck. At this point his wife ran outside and started screaming for help,” a close friend of the deceased told the Observer.

“His daughter woke up and started pleading with the gunman not to kill her father. But he took up the policeman’s car keys and pumped another bullet into him, before escaping in the car,” the family friend said.

While scores of people gathered outside the policeman’s home, Swaby’s distraught daughter was comforted by friends, while the cop’s mother, Hermine Swaby, tried hard to maintain her composure.

Shocked residents of the housing scheme milled around in small groups as they discussed the untimely death of one of their own.

Security Minister Dwight Nelson who yesterday expressed shock and anger at the latest cop killing, urged people with information about the murderer to come forward.

“As the nation grapples with the monster of crime and in particular, murder, there are unmistakable signs that the sanctuary of our homes are being threatened by rampaging criminals with no regard for the sanctity of lives,” the minister said in a statement.

President of the Longville Park Citizen’s Association, Baldvin McKenzie, sent condolence to the policeman’s family as he condemned the death of an active member of the community.

“We strongly condemn the killing and we mourn with Constable Swaby’s family,” McKenzie said, adding that Swaby was a productive member of the association and had represented his sector in a community football competition.

At the same time, McKenzie pleaded with the security ministry and the police commissioner to set up a police post in Longville Park, home to thousands of people.

“We have been campaigning for the longest time for a police post. This incident has just emphasised the need for one. We have over 10,000 residents living here. We hope the commissioner will take another look at the situation,” McKenzie said.

Constable Swaby is the fifth cop to be cut down by gunmen’s bullets this year.