A 39-year-old man remained hospitalised in critical condition yesterday, after he was shot by police on Thursday night during an alleged confrontation outside the Carenage home of popular dancehall artiste Taryll Mical Swan, who is widely referred to as Prince Swanny.
The shooting was the second such incident to occur for the week at the singer and songwriter’s residence at Francois Street.
On September 19, at around 1.15 am, gunmen converged on the residence and opened fire, following reports that Swan was at the location.
Police confirmed two cars parked on the road in front of the house were damaged in that incident, with over 100 rounds of assorted ammunition reportedly being recovered at the scene then.
Conducting an anti-crime exercise between 10 am and 10 pm on Thursday, officers of the Western Division Task Force responded to a call around 7 pm that men with firearms were seen outside Swan’s house.
Led by Snr Supt Remy, Insp Grant and Sgt Jack, Cpls Robinson and Khan, along with PCs Clement, Hollingsworth, Seebaran, Dennis, Ottley, Bocage, Fidler and Laloo, arrived to find the suspect holding what appeared to be a Mac 11 sub-machine gun with a red laser light, running along a flight of stairs.
As he headed toward two officers, the suspect allegedly pointed the weapon at them and fired.
Ignoring the officers’ commands to stop even as they identified themselves, the suspect allegedly responded, “Wah police,” and continued to fire.
The officers returned fire, hitting the suspect. The officers then took the suspect to the St James Medical Centre, following which he was transferred to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery and remains under police guard.
Officers also recovered the sub-machine gun, a red and black bag knapsack containing a black hoodie, one police hat and two Velcro adhesive patches with the word “POLICE” on them at the scene.
Commenting on Thursday’s incident, acting Police Commissioner Mc Donald Jacob explained that the prompt response by the T&T Police Service in the Western Division was part of a coordinated approach in which intelligence was relayed promptly to field officers, who were able to get to the location and cordon off the area to intercept and apprehend the suspect.
Acknowledging Trinibad artistes were being targeted, Jacob alluded to the type of music and lyrics as one of the reasons.
“Some of the music is what, some persons are saying, actually promote guns and violence.
“We realise the sort of psychological effect this is having on the young people, and we saying this is not a positive move for T&T and for the young people because celebrating or highlighting or glorifying gun culture is not beneficial for anyone. In fact, all efforts should be made to move away from what we are seeing developing, because from music…it is transcending itself into actual action on the streets of T&T,” Jacob said.
Trinibad is the name that artistes call dancehall in Trinidad, a derivative that was inspired by Jamaican dancehall music—and focuses on the grimy side of crime, with many artistes releasing and promoting “gunman” tunes.
Trinibad artistes have been under attack in T&T since July 2020 and recent killings have underscored the extremes some persons are willing to go to in order to get their mark.
Between July 2020 to present, seven Trinibad artistes were killed in separate incidents.
Two of them were killed during alleged shootouts with the TTPS, while the other five reportedly lost their lives in hits.
In September 2021, Josiah “Siah Boss” Mc Clatchie was killed during an alleged shootout with police in Santa Cruz and his death followed days after Jaheim “Chucky Blanco” Joseph was shot by police during an exercise in Laventille.
The others who have been killed so far include N’Kosi “Fari Dan” Bovell; Carlton “CJ Dan” Campbell; Daniel “Mad Dog” Hamilton; Keenan “Craigman” Craig; and Kyle “Rebel Sixx” George.
An attempt was made on the life of yet another Trinibad artiste, Kalonji Arthur, in September, in the parking lot of the BRIX Hotel, Cascade, as he celebrated his girlfriend Bridget James’s birthday.
While Arthur was shot in the legs, James died at the scene.