‘Man turns himself in after fatal shooting of officer in Zarqa’

AMMAN — Police on Tuesday said that a man turned himself in earlier in the day in connection with the shooting death of an Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) agent on Monday during a raid in Zarqa.

“A man walked into Zarqa Police Department and turned himself in, informing officers on duty that he shot Sgt. Mohammad Salameh Saqarat,” the Public Security Department (PSD) said in a statement.

Saqarat was part of a force that raided a public garden in Zawahreh neighbourhood in Zarqa, around 22km northeast of Amman, when “they were met by live rounds fired at them by several men”.

“One of the suspects fired at Saqarat and hit him in the head. The men then fled the area to an unknown destination,” a senior AND official told The Jordan Times.

The injured officer was rushed to a nearby hospital but died as a result of the wounds, the AND official added.

Two suspects were arrested later in the day, while the third suspected assailant remained at large until Tuesday, according to the PSD statement.

Police cordoned off the area where the shooting occurred and conducted a “thorough search” to find the suspect who reportedly fired at Saqarat, according to the PSD statement.

“The tight security measures and inspection points forced the suspected assailant to turn himself in. A weapon was also seized and sent to the crime lab for a ballistic match,” according to the senior AND official.

The suspect was “a known drug dealer” with “a previous criminal record”, the AND official said.

Saraqat is survived by his wife and three-year-old daughter, the official added.

All three suspects were referred to the State Security Court prosecutor for further questioning and indictment, the official said.