A Belmont man was killed by police yesterday and his family is demanding justice, as they described the execution as “unjust.”
Celestine “Dutties” Richards, 31, was shot dead in his home at Walcott Lane, Gonzales, around 9.15 am.
Officers claimed Richards pointed a gun at them when they entered the house and they returned fire.
However, it remained unclear yesterday if the officers had been executing a search warrant at the time of the incident.
Last Friday, officers searched Richards’ home for contraband but reportedly found nothing illegal on the premises.
In an interview at Leotine Street, Belmont yesterday, Richards’ mother, Gale Jack, challenged acting Police Commissioner Mc Donald Jacob to pay her a visit.
She said, “I want the Commissioner of Police to respond to my cry. Come to me and let me say what I have to say…this is not it. Why this had to happen?”
Jack said officers did not need to kill her son.
Claiming Richards was well loved, she remembered, “My son didn’t leave here to go nowhere.”
The mother questioned, “What you shoot him for?”
Declaring her son’s killing as unjust, Jack said even if the officers had to enter her son’s home for whatever reason, it did not have to end in his death. She suggested police officers could have shot Richards in the foot.
Instead, Jack said, he was shot in the chest twice.
“They come to kill him,” Jack said, adding her son was shot dead while lying on a mattress.
Lamenting the loss, she directed her ire towards the police officers who were present, as she cautioned, “All of all yuh officers have children.”
She demanded answers, “Why all yuh ill-treating the black people?”
The upset mother also responded to allegations that Richards had been a gang member.
Jack said, “Everybody in this neighbourhood is one as they say.”
She added that her son Richards was loved, especially by the elderly folks in the area, as he would always be helping them with their bags and talking with everybody.
Police, however, maintained that officers only opened fire after Richards pointed a gun at them.