A POLICE reserve officer was shot dead along with one of his attackers as he tried to make a bank deposit at the RBC branch in Palmdale on Sunday.

Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles, speaking to press at the scene, said that police were alerted shortly before noon to a man being shot at the Palmdale shopping plaza. On arrival, they found two men had been shot.

She said: "Our brief investigation so far tells us that a man who we now identify as a police reserve inspector was at the deposit drop box making a deposit when he was accosted by a group of men. There was an exchange of gunfire resulting in two of them, the police inspector and another man, being shot. They were later confirmed deceased here on the scene."

The commissioner said that the other men suspected in the attack got into a small white vehicle, possibly Japanese, and left the area. 

She called for the public to provide any information they might have, and added: "I have given specific instructions that my officers are to hit the streets of New Providence and find those responsible for this today." 

It is believed that four men may have been in the vehicle. The commissioner also urged people to use caution when making deposits, not going alone or using armoured vehicle companies, or calling 919 and asking if there is a police vehicle that can be in the vicinity while people make a deposit.