Two of the three survivors from Saturday’s police-involved shooting in Port-of-Spain have been released without being charged with any offence.
This according to Beetham Gardens activist Kareem Marcelle.
In an interview with Guardian Media yesterday, Marcelle said the release of the two men raises even more questions about the police account of the events that led to the deaths of three men on Saturday.
“Both of the young men were released last evening without a criminal charge,” Marcelle said.
The third survivor is still being treated at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital
According to police officers, they were in pursuit of a vehicle with six men in early Saturday when the men opened fire on them. The officers said they shot back and the men crashed the car on Independence Square, Port-of-Spain. Isiah Roberts, 17, Leonardo Williams, 22, and Fabien Richards, 24, were killed in the incident.
Relatives and eyewitnesses have given a different account, denying the men were armed and saying the police used excessive force.
Massive protests broke out in and around the capital on Monday, with residents of Beetham Gardens, Sea Lots and east Port-of-Spain accusing police of using excessive force and killing the men unlawfully.
On the release of the men without charges, Marcelle said, “We ask the question: where is the brandishing of firearms that the society was so easy to believe? To believe that these young men were so reckless and they were gangsters and because they were from Beetham Gardens, they are pests, they are cockroaches, and the police was right to do what they did?”
He also disputed statements made by acting Police Commissioner Mc Donald Jacob that the protests were the result of a coordinated effort.
“To say that it was a well-planned and pre-planned protest, I don’t think there is any evidence to suggest that,” Marcelle said.
“Especially since I know how pre-planning protests goes and usually it would start with a lot of tyres, there was no significant amount of tyres in Beetham Gardens and that’s why the police were able to remove the rubbish from the road so easily.”
Marcelle said he did not condone the protests and wanted to make that clear.
Recalling the shooting death of mother of five Ornella Greaves on June 30, 2020, Marcelle said the residents were risking their lives by speaking out.
“It is so dangerous for young people in our community to protest, we saw it two years ago when Ornella Greaves was killed and before you know it, you had senior officers of the police service saying, and a former Commissioner saying, there were no police around at least three minutes before the incident, inferring that it was not police officers who shot and killed Ornella Greaves.”
On July 1, the Police Complaints Authority released a statement saying it found that Greaves had been shot by police and after an extensive investigation, a file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Yesterday, as he recalled his interactions with Leonardo Williams and Fabien Richards, Marcelle said the residents were enraged because both young men had impeccable characters.
He said he saw the group at a gas station in Port-of-Spain just hours before they were killed.
“I was going to drop off my aunt and I saw them at St Christopher’s gas station…that’s like a trend where they will dress up and go in the gas station and take pics even though they don’t have a car. I saw them and was saying to myself ‘What Nardo (Leonardo) and them doing there this hour?”
Marcelle said about half an hour later when he passed in front of the gas station again, he saw the group was still there.
“That was around 1.30 am, I said a little prayer that they would reach home safely….but we know how things played out,” he said.
No further protests
Although rumours and videos were widely circulated on social media yesterday, warning of more protests in and around Port-of-Spain, there was no such action.
Around noon, several messages were circulated claiming the street leading into Sea Lots on the Beetham Highway was blocked with burning debris.
A Guardian Media team visited the area but found Digicel technicians working on overhead lines in the area. One employee said the lines were damaged by the fire set by protestors on Monday.
There was also a flurry of activity at the Solid Waste Management Company Limited (SWMCOL) transfer facility, where a massive heap of used tyres was set ablaze by protestors on Monday.
Flames could still be seen coming from the rubber and wire that remained heaped on the ground. SWMCOL is reportedly now considering the future of the facility at the location.