Ackee Walk residents dispute police killing
Published:Tuesday | December 14, 2021 | 12:12 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
Residents of 142 Molynes Road in St Andrew, commonly called Ackee Walk, are refuting claims by the security forces that a man who was shot fatally yesterday had engaged the police in a shoot-out.
Dead is 25-year-old Renardo ‘Nazrie’ Duncan.
The residents allege that the police acted unprofessionally when they entered their community shortly after midday and opened fire at a group of men who began running upon seeing the cops.
“Dem hear say police a come and dem run. A ghetto this and a man just a try stay out a police way. No man nuh want lock down fi the Christmas. So di youth dem jus a clear the way ‘cause dem nuh have nothing. A di gully dem a get ready fi clean ‘cause dem get Christmas work,” a resident said.
The resident said the group of men had just gone to sharpen cutlasses and were all waiting to leave at once.
“See di cutlass dem deh pon di table, so him dead without a weapon,” a woman said.
Senior Superintendent Aaron Fletcher, head of the St Andrew North Police Division, who The Gleaner understands was in the community at the time of the operation, could not be reached for a comment.
Up to press time, repeated calls to his phone went unanswered.
A resident told our news team that a policeman discharged two rounds metres away from where Duncan was killed and after the initial shooting that claimed his life.
“Dem tek out a gun and fire it up in a the air. Mi say, ‘Officer, mek sure a nuh it yuh a go put pon Nazrie and say a him shoot after dem’,” a resident said.
Some residents claim that the operation was well planned as police were already at sections of the community to which the men were likely to have ran upon trying to flee.
“Dem yellow tape down in here so when a ‘round deh so dem kill him. Dem say anyhow we pass the yellow tape, a three months’ imprisonment. Dem do that because dem nuh want we come out and talk. If a shoot-out, why dem pick up the spent shell before INDECOM come?” a resident said, referencing the independent body now probing the incident.
The residents claimed that dozens of shots were fired, and that they had expected more persons to be killed, adding that their children have been left traumatised.
The Gleaner gathered that Duncan is originally from the community of Maverley, but has resided in Ackee Walk for some time.
The police said a firearm was retrieved beside the dead man.
No policeman reported any injury during the incident.