Solomon Blackman, the ex-cop who murdered two policemen on Monday has a history of violence, says his father

Blackman in the space of six minutes at the Brickdam police station killed Lance Corporal, Ramnarine Latchana and Assistant Superintendent, Richard Griffith. Blackman was shot in the leg and is now under guard in hospital.

In an interview with this newspaper, Colin Blackman said his son, who is now 34, grew up in Mocha, East Bank Demerara, but left in 1996. According to Colin, his son had always shown violent traits.

But he denies his son is mentally ill, adding that in late 1996 he had taken him to a psychiatrist for an examination and he was declared mentally fit and normal.

So what prompted Monday's rampage? "Look it is very simple, my feeling is that, you push him and he will push you back and very hard too," Colin Blackman declared.

He said shortly after the mayhem on Monday he visited his son at the hospital who recalled that late last year he had threatened to expose what he described as some of the ills of the present government.

Stabroek News was told that following this, Blackman wrote a letter to treason-accused Mark Benschop but the letter never got to Benschop since the police intercepted it.

The police had cause again to visit Blackman at his Bent Street home after he struck a woman on her arm. Blackman's father said when the police visited him then, he resisted arrest for a little while, but was about to have a change of clothing when he turned his back and a cop shot him in his leg. He was jailed for the offence. Blackman, an ex-cop remembered this vividly and claimed that one of the cops he killed on Monday was the one who had shot him.

Stabroek News was told that, from all indications, Blackman knew who he had wanted to kill once he grabbed policeman Kesier Cosbert's weapon. Eye- witnesses said Blackman had seemed bent on killing Latchana whom he stood over and pumped two bullets into.

Colin recalled that growing up his son was easily angered. "He gets upset very fast and it would appear that something was very wrong with him."

But he maintained the boy grew up in a well-ordered home with two other siblings, but for some reason or the other he was very headstrong.

"If he has a view on something, better believe it whether he is right or wrong he will hold onto it."

Though growing up with such tendency, Colin said he thought his son had grown out of the attitude. He related that he seldom spoke with his son after he moved out of his home in 1996, adding that Blackman might have hated him two years ago, but recently they had a cordial relationship.

Asked at what point his son's behaviour took a turn for the worse, Colin said while at his home Blackman had tried to behave himself but once he joined the Police Force and then left he was a man to stay far from.

"My friend, at this point I had preferred him not to be around me. I believe that something wrong happen while he was in the police force, because even though he was very hostile before he joined the force, when he came out he was worse."

Blackman, who is the second of three children born to Colin and Dianna, who is now deceased, is a father of one.

In 1996, a year which Colin said he would never forget, Blackman severely beat him after he attempted to put him out of the house.

Colin told this newspaper that once Blackman left the force the same year, he was operating as if he was older than him. "He wanted to run things in my house and I had to get very drastic with him."

According to Colin, after several requests for Blackman to leave his home, he refused and as a result he moved to the court where he secured an eviction order. The man said he threw Blackman's clothes out of the house the same day he got the order and as if he had done him the worse thing in his life, Blackman responded by breaking his arm.

Blackman rented an apartment in Mocha and after several months of not paying his rent, the landlord reminded him that he was in arrears.

"Imagine because that man asked him for his rent, that boy took a piece of wood and struck that man on his arm and fractured it."

"From all these things my son clearly had a history of being very violent. I tried my best as a father and even though many persons would blame me for his delinquent behaviour I know that I did my best," Colin declared.

"I married twice and so did my father, we never love religion even though I was an altar boy when I was small, so my children were never taught by me to love the Lord. I am very sorry and if that is the reason why he grew up like that I am really, really sorry,' the frail man said.

Schoolmates also recalled that Blackman was always in a fight.

With regards to the home from where he was evicted on Monday morning triggering his rampage, Blackman had told this newspaper that the home was bequeathed to him by former President Forbes Burnham. Blackman said legal documents bearing his name were in the hands of Mayor Hamilton Green. Stabroek News could not make contact with Green yesterday to confirm whether this was so.

However, Colin said Blackman's claim should not be taken seriously. He remarked that his son had approached him with the same claim but he never listened to him. Blackman claimed that the home was bequeathed to him some nineteen years ago, but if one is to calculate his age then he would have been 15 years old then.

Terry Wong told Stabroek News yesterday that the house and land belonged to his brother, Herbert Wong who had a transport proving this. He recalled that some four years ago Blackman rented the apartment agreeing to pay a monthly rent of $6000. However, after paying for the first year, Blackman stopped paying for the past three years and when asked for the rent he would abuse him.

He believed that it was after Blackman was unable to pay the rent he began claiming that the property was bequeathed to him.

Besides, Wong said Blackman was in the habit of using the open yard as a bathroom, brushing his teeth in the washing sink, throwing condoms in the kitchen and threaten and assaulting other tenants.

Wong said the man's behaviour was unbearable and he sought to have him removed from the house. He said an eviction order was secured sometime ago, but it could not have been served on Blackman who was always out of the house. Wong said that on Monday the bailiff, along with two policemen and a porter turned up at the house and threw Blackman's belongings on the road. They then barred the door. It was when Blackman got news of this, he first went to the Georgetown Magistrate's Court and after not receiving any satisfaction he went to the station on his murderous rampage.