Architecture student

Douglas, an architecture student at the University of Guyana (UG) was shot and killed by the law enforcement officers while Grey, who will be celebrating his 19th birthday in the next few weeks, a second-year International Relations student at UG, was shot in the jaw.

The young man is said to be in a critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital and has lost all his front bottom teeth as a result of the gunshot which also damaged his tongue, preventing him from speaking.

Three others, O’Neil King, who was injured on his hand and who is the son of police sergeant Pamela King, Quacy Haywood, a member of the Eagles Basketball Club, and Randolph Goodluck, who is the son of former police inspector Ransford Goodluck, were all in the `Sprinter’ motor car PHH 8115 when it came under fire from the police on Saturday at around 9.20 am.

The three youths were yesterday morning released from police custody after being detained overnight.

“Having regards to the circumstances surrounding the incident and our concern over what occurred. The fact that young men were involved, men who according to our records have not come to the police notice and also taking into consideration the explanation given by the police ranks and the explanations provided by the occupants of the vehicle, where we have differing reports, we decided to call this press conference,” said McDonald yesterday.

The original police press release on Saturday had spoken of the shooting occurring after a “confrontation”. There was no mention yesterday of this.

Unfortunate

Describing the incident as “unfortunate” McDonald said “without going deep into the incident what we have so far is that sometime around 9:20 yesterday a police mobile patrol observed a vehicle travelling south along Sheriff Street somewhere in the vicinity of Tennessee (night club)” and the patrol members turned back because of something that aroused their suspicions and attempted to intercept the vehicle at the corner of Sheriff and Duncan Streets. “At that stage we are not clear what actually took place but we are certain gunshots were fired and three persons have been injured, one fatally injured, one in a critical condition at the hospital and one had (an) injury to his hand.”

Since the eruption of last year’s crime spree, the police have intensified patrolling throughout the city and on the East Coast in particular. The force has also been on a heightened state of alert and there have been several fatal shoot-outs. Over the past year 20 policemen have been killed by gunmen.

The commissioner said taking all factors into consideration the force launched an investigation on Saturday and based on the revelations we have decided to “up the level of investigation by appointing a senior superintendent, an assistant superintendent and a deputy superintendent. One from CID Headquarters, one from the Office of Professional Responsibility and one from Brickdam for them to conduct a thorough investigation into this matter taking all the factors into consideration and come up with a report by the end of this week in order that we will have a better understanding of what actually took place yesterday (Saturday).”

Lessons

Recounting the incident, Goodluck, who had just got in from the police station and taken a bath, said that his friends had picked him up at around 8:30 am and they went to visit a friend on Sheriff Street. “We by another friend on Sheriff Street behind Tennessee (night club) and we just leave from there and on the way home he (Ronson Grey) stop at the street where his sister was taking lessons.” According to the youth, who is a member of the Courts Pacesetters Basketball Club and a student of Global Technology, Grey stopped the car at the corner of Sheriff and Bonasika Streets and not seeing anyone decided to drive off as he concluded that his sister’s lessons were still in progress. “When he just driving off a van just pull up just so at the side and I just hear shots,” he said adding that they were playing loud music in the car.

Goodluck said that after the gunshots rang out the policemen left their vehicle and ordered them to lie on the ground “and that is it.” He said because he was ordered to lie face down on the ground he could not observe how his two injured friends were taken out of the car. He said after a while they ordered them back into their vehicle and two policemen sat in front and drove the car to the Brickdam Police Station where statements were taken from them. He said that the statements were taken separately and the officer who interviewed him told him to recount exactly what happened that morning. After the statements were recorded they were taken to Police Headquarters, Eve Leary where they were placed in custody until yesterday morning. He said while being taken to the station one of his friends asked for a phone call and the police officer told him to shut up.

In a telephone interview with Stabroek News, Quacy Heywood, recalled that as the vehicle neared Duncan Street, Grey decided to stop and enquire whether his sister’s lessons were over and it was at this point that the young men observed a green CRV vehicle pull up alongside them.

Heywood said the men in the other vehicle appeared to be saying something but they (the young men) were playing music and could not hear them. At that stage, one of the men drew a gun “...and [Grey] holla, don’t shoot, don’t shoot, but they start shooting.”

The 19-year-old said that Grey, who was driving, was bleeding by this time and the men exited their vehicle and proceeded to drag him from the driver’s seat before ordering the rest of them to come out of the car.

“Everybody come out de car except (Douglas) and they tell us to lie on de ground,” Heywood stated. He said by that time, they realised that the men were law enforcement officers because they were all wearing bulletproof vests marked police.

He said the policemen asked them who else was in the car while threatening to shoot again, “and I call out to (Douglas) and tell he come out de car but he said he couldn’t move. Then one of the police pull he out and seh dis’ one get shoot, leh we carry he to the hospital.”

The police then placed Grey and Douglas in their vehicle and transported them to the hospital while Heywood, Goodluck and King were escorted to the Brickdam police station where they were taken into custody.

McDonald expressed condolences to Douglas’ mother and expressed the force’s regret over the incident.

Questioned at the press conference about whether the police had been using racial profiling to pick out suspects, McDonald said the force’s engagements on the road are not limited to any particular race. “We intercept any vehicle whether or not the occupants are black, brown, white, gray etc. According to the force’s policy, racial profiling is not encouraged and is something that we have not been encouraging.” According to McDonald whenever persons die in confrontation with the police the police are always regretful whether it is made public or not.

Suspicious

The commissioner yesterday could not say what prompted his ranks to conclude that the youths appeared to be suspicious but he said at the end of the investigation it is expected to be known.

He said all policemen in plainclothes are suppose to have identification cards and they are authorised to properly “announce” themselves before engaging the persons. From all reports this was not done in Saturday’s incident.

McDonald could not say if anything illegal was found in the car but said he was informed that one of the youths had a rasta wig in his waist but he could not say who it was nor had he seen the wig.

At Douglas’ home yesterday, friends and relatives were grieving the youth’s death. They described him as an “excellent role model to anyone.” He was a member of the University of Guyana and Emperor’s Basketball team and was said to be a “very strong candidate” for this year’s junior Guyana team. His mother, Aslin Douglas, said the boys woke her son to go to basketball. She said she was informed of the shooting by a doctor who was on duty and who was a batch mate of another son, Orin Douglas, who is overseas. According to her, Yohance was alive when he arrived at the hospital as he called his brother’s name twice.

“I couldn’t go to the hospital I had to ask my brother and sister to go and identify him”, the grieving mother said.

“This got to stop, killing innocent children got to stop. They couldn’t see that they were children, it was day..” the woman said. She related that she was told that because her son was badly injured he was dragged by the police into the vehicle before he was taken to the hospital.

Goodluck’s mother, Caroline Thomas, told Stabroek News that her son wrote a note to her yesterday morning informing her that the police pulled up next to their car and started shooting.

The grieving mother, who is thanking the Lord that her son is still alive, said that because her son’s tongue has been damaged he is unable to speak and she is contemplating seeking overseas medical attention for him where he would be given speech therapy. The woman said all of the youths are known to her.

She said her son left yesterday morning with his uncle’s car, saying he was going into south. She said when she got the news and rushed to the hospital the doctor on duty told her that the police informed him that one of the young men was wearing a wig at the time. “Those are innocent little children, why shoot them?” the woman questioned. She said that the youths never used “bad words” in her presence when they visited her home.

“I can’t get over it, I can’t eat or sleep. They could have asked them to stop and come out the car why they had to shoot?”

“Will I get justice? I have to leave it to God because what is going on, I don’t think I would get justice,” the woman said.