Residents of Prizgar Lands, Laventille, are calling for a full police investigation into an incident on Saturday night during which four residents, among them a 17-year-old student, were shot by police officers. According to residents, around 7 pm, Fyzznyck John, 17, a Form Five student of Morvant/Laventille Secondary School; Andre Melville, 25; Ryan Pram, 19; and Kendall Matthews, 26, all of Prizgar Lands, were liming at a home in the area when a marked police vehicle pulled alongside them.
In an interview yesterday afternoon, eyewitnesses said that shortly after arriving the two officers in the police vehicle demanded that the men exit the yard and submit to body searches. One resident, Vashti Ramcharan said that upon exiting the yard the officers opened fire on the group of men. John was reportedly hit in the leg and abdomen, while the other men were grazed in their arms and legs.
Up to late yesterday, John and Melville were warded at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital in a stable condition after receiving treatment for their injuries. Pram and Matthews, who both sustained minor injuries, were later treated and discharged. An emotional Ramcharan said: "I don't know why them police would just come here and shoot these boys. They is good boys. All of them working or in school."
Ramcharan, who said she witnessed the incident, claimed it was a serious act of police brutality. Residents were, however, pleased to note that ASP Ajith Persad and officers of the Port-of-Spain CID visited the scene and promised an unbiased investigation into the incident. "This is not how this country should be. We need help for these youth not abuse from the police.
"One of those youths could have get killed here last night by police for no reason," Ramcharan lamented. Several other residents of the area, who declined to be identified for fear of victimisation, also expressed similar sentiments but noted that Saturday's incident was not the first for residents.
"Them police always coming here and doing what they want. I feel they was drunk to come and shoot at unarmed youths," the man said. The T&T Guardian was reliably informed by senior police investigators that the officers allegedly involved in the incident were assigned to the Inter-Agency Task Force, the unit of the protective services specifically mandated to patrol the streets of Laventille.
