A 19-year-old youth has been injured and a dog killed when police opened fire at a house during a raid carried out in the Panwilathenna area of Gampola.

Ada Derana reporter said the shooting has taken place during a raid conducted early this morning (21) at an illicit liquor brewery.

The 19-year-old was shot in his leg, and a pet Rottweiler dog was shot dead while a group of officers attached to the Gampola Divisional Crimes Unit tried to inspect the house in question.

Meanwhile, the residents of the house allege that the police officers had prevented the injured boy from being taken to the hospital.

“They kept the child inside the home for about 45 minutes without letting us take him to the hospital, and neither did they take him to the hospital. They kept us inside the house with handcuffs”, a relative of the injured boy said.

However, Police Media Spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa stated that the suspect whom the police tried to arrest, had attacked the police officers with a sharp weapon, and that the officers had then shot into the sky to bring the situation under control.

“There, the dog had attacked the police officer, while it is suspected to have been incited. At the time, the police officers had shot at the dog in order to protect themselves”, SSP Thalduwa claimed.

He also mentioned it is suspected that a shot fired at the dog had ricocheted off the ground and then hit the boy in the leg.

SSP Thalduwa, who refused the allegations that the police obstructed the injured boy from being hospitalized, claimed that the residents of the house in question had prevented the police officers who tried to take the boy to a hospital. 

“The residents have informed that they will hospitalize the student by themselves. The police officers had not delayed the hospitalization of the child in any way”, he added.