Purnell turned and fired a
shot at him from a distance of about 15 or 20 feet. Luckily, the shot missed. Cpl.
Justiniano immediately returned fire but his shots also missed. He continued to follow the
fleeing Purnell, who took a circuitous route but was eventually found in a bush in a nearby
backyard. Police located a 9 mm pistol in the bush; this firearm was later determined to
have fired a 9 mm shell casing found at the scene of the shooting. When the shooting
occurred, it was not yet dark; for this reason, Cpl. Justiano was easily able to identify
Purnell as the person who tried to shoot him. Cpl. Justiniano’s motor vehicle recorder was
operating at the time of the incident and preserved an audio recording of Cpl. Justiniano’s
initial verbal interactions with Purnellmobile telephones are working, and that they can once again communicate with their relatives, especially with those working, or studying, in the rest of India.

Also read: When Gandhi Argued in Favour of Kashmir’s Right to Self-Determination

There is relief also among parents of school-going children, as hope revives that they may still be able to make up the time they have lost and sit for their board examinations without being at a severe handicap.

There may also have been initial relief among traders and shopkeepers as hopes of making at least limited sales in the few weeks left before the end of the festive season revived. But with only a few days left for Diwali, the tourist season and the Amarnath Yatra cut short, and the imminent shift of the