Hanover residents protest police shooting
WESTERN BUREAU: DISGRUNTLED RESIDENTS of Elgin Town, Hanover, blocked a section of the North Coast Highway on Tuesday to protest the police shooting of a man who recently returned to Jamaica from the Cayman Islands.
Lineka Williams, 28, was reportedly shot and injured by the police last Friday night.
Irate residents who blocked the roadway with large stones, tree trunks, old furniture, and tyres claimed that the shooting was unjustified.
Errol Chattoo, director of complaints at the Independent Commission of Investigations’ (INDECOM) Western Regional office, told The Gleaner that a meeting has been arranged for Wednesday between relatives of the injured man and Superintendent Sharon Beeput, the commanding officer for Hanover.
The injured man’s mother, Benieve Jowrey, said that her son, who resides in the Cayman Islands but returned to the island late last year to finalise divorce arrangements, was not involved in any crime.
Jowrey said that her son would have been back in Cayman had it not been for travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Williams’ mother said that her son had just left her yard to attend a wake close to the house when he was shot by the police.
“Wah di police seh to mi is dat dem a keep dance after 10 o’clock, and dat de curfew hours pass,”said the mother. “From dem shoot mi son from Friday night, a pure runaround me a get … . Dem a shub mi round and a run mi round.
“When mi go up there (Falmouth Hospital) dem have him handcuff to a bed and him shout out an tell me seh from dem carry him up deh, dem nuh mek him use the bathroom, and when me enquire from a policeman, dem run me.”
Tuesday’s protest resulted in a gridlock between Negril and Montego Bay for miles.
The police said that shortly after 11 p.m. on Friday, they received reports that men were at a wake in the community. Williams was allegedly held with an illegal firearm. He was shot and injured during an attempt to apprehend him, the police said.