Police KILL Seven
Commissioner sorry about woman shot in bedroom
Denyse Renne and Jensen Le Vende
Sunday, August 19th 2007
KILLED BY STRAY BULLET: Wendy Courtney
Seven people are dead following two separate police shootings on Friday night in Wallerfield and St James.
Dead are Jordan Charles, 17, of Trainline, Pinto Road, Arima; Lincoln Forde of Ackeralli Trace, Malabar; Dale Liverpool, 56, of Malabar; Hayden Gardner; Wendy Courtney of Agua Santa Drive, Wallerfield; Kevin Blake and Barry Lewis, both of Upper L'anse Mitan Road, Carenage.
A man identified as Jason Cyrus remains warded at hospital under police guard after being shot in the leg.
Police reports state around 6.30 p.m., Charles, Forde, Liverpool and Gardner were seated in a car at Agua Santa Drive, Wallerfield, when a police vehicle approached and there was a reported exchange of gunfire.
All occupants of the car were rushed to the Arima Health Facility where they were pronounced dead upon arrival.
Courtney, 40, a mother of five was shot by a stray bullet as she tried to close her bedroom window.
In the other incident in St James, Blake and Lewis were pronounced dead at hospital when police claim they returned fire after being fired upon when they attempted to search the occupants of a car.
However, at a news conference yesterday afternoon, Commissioner of Police Trevor Paul, who was flanked by ACPs Maurice Piggott and Gilbert Reyes said both incidents would be thoroughly investigated.
Adding that he wished to extend condolences to Wendy Courtney's relatives since she was caught in the crossfire with police officers "who were trying to apprehend four suspects," in Wallerfield, Paul said, "We will be keeping in close contact with family members of Courtney,"
"Our initial investigation revealed that around 5.30 p.m. Northern Division officers on enquiry at the Churchill Roosevelt Highway, Agua Santa Drive, when they intercepted an Almera car with four men.
"There was an exchange of gunfire and four people sustained injuries," Paul said.
Stating the incident at St James occurred around 10 p.m., Paul said Blake, Lewis and Cyrus went to Ample Designs on Gaston Johnson Street, Woodbrook where they physically assaulted employees before eventually leaving empty-handed.
"They left and went to Panka and Henry Pierre Streets where they met a man in a car. It was here that officers of the Western Division were on patrol and spotted them.
"The officers confronted them and they were fired upon. The officers returned fire and injured three of the men, while one escaped," Paul added.
Paul further stated, following the incidents in the east and west, that four firearms were recovered-three revolvers and a 9mm pistol. However, relatives of Blake and Lewis charged that the men were murdered by police.
Others claim their relatives were not involved in any illegal activities.
"My son was working to buy his school-books and was waiting for his CXC results, he was a hard-working boy," cried Betty-Ann Charles, Jordan's mother, while Conrad Sambrano, Courtney's husband, called out for justice.
"I want serious justice and compensation for what happened to my wife," Sambrano said.
"These people who get shoot not involved in anything. I heard what the Commissioner of Police said and he is wrong," Sambrano added. "What he said at the press conference does not make any sense, this was murder."
The bullet which killed Courtney on Agua Santa Drive, Churchill Roosevelt Highway, entered her left side, in the vicinity of her stomach and exited on her other side.
Courtney, a factory worker, had returned home from work around 5.30 p.m. on Friday, when she went into her bedroom to undress.
It was while undressing that she heard several gunshots outside her home and in a bid to safeguard herself, was in the act of closing her bedroom window when she was accidentally shot.
Sambrano said his wife was clad in a bra and underwear, "having just come home from work, when she heard noises outside and tried to close the window."
Sambrano said his wife was a grandmother of four and upon realising she was shot, he and other residents rushed to assist her. However, police officers lifted her and threw her in a van, he claimed.
"One officer hold her foot, another hold her hand and they come running out the house with her like is a dog they carrying," Sambrano alleged.
Courtney died while being taken to the Arima Health Facility.
Sambrano said he and Courtney have been residing at their current address for the past year, having moved from Toco.
Blake and Lewis who are from Upper L'anse Mitan Road, Carenage, died upon arrival at hospital, while Cyrus was shot in the leg and remains warded at hospital under police guard.
Andre Lewis, Barry's elder brother, said he remains in shock over his brothers' death.
"Police kill my bother. Last year they call my mother and say Barry get kill by police down South, the report turned out to be false," Andre said.
Friends of Blake and Lewis, who wished to remain anonymous, also angrily expressed their feelings saying "the police willfully kill the men, they had no gun on them, nothing to deserve what they get."
Lewis' mother, Martha Clinton, who was too much in a state of shock to speak was to celebrate her birthday yesterday. Lewis was the second of three boys.
