Kerwin Andrews yesterday praised the police for their quick response after he was held up at gunpoint by two robbers who stormed his Andrews Drive, Champs Fleurs, home and held him and his family hostage. The robbers, Kaleem Antoine, 25, and Kyle John,19, both of Mt D'Or Road, were shot dead at the scene in an exchange of gunfire with officers from the North-Eastern Division Task Force led by Sgt Roger Alexander. The officers managed to enter the house through a back door and caught the robbers red-handed. The duo opened fire on the officers who returned fire. Antoine and John were shot in the exchange and were taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex where they were pronounced dead on arrival.
Supt Moses, Sgt N Mohammed, Cpl Lewis, PC Austin and other crime scene personnel visited the scene. ASP Neville Sankar is continuing investigations. "I was seeing death," Andrews said after his ordeal, as he washed away blood from the yard of his home. "I said that was it...Death, death, death." Andrews, 45, a fabricator, was in his yard when he was approached by a masked man who was holding an object under a T-shirt. "I did not know what it was and he pointed it in my face," he said. "I pushed it away twice and another man pushed a real gun in my face...I tried to delay them." Andrews said one of his relatives saw the commotion outside and called the police.
The robbers managed to gain entry to the house and began to round up family members and search the house. Andrews said four other relatives, including his 88-year-old visually-impaired father, George Andrews, and six-month old baby, Talice, were at home. "They told me to lie down on the ground and the rest of my family were there in the living room," he said. "I put my head on the ground and I was praying during that time, hoping that God would hear my prayer. It seemed long and when I opened my eyes the police were there. It was very comforting to see them. "I heard gunshots and next thing the police were telling us to stay there and relax." Andrews described his neighbourhood as "very safe" and described it as "a close community."