Fiery protest in Mongoose Town
RESIDENTS of 57 Waltham Park Road, popularly called “Mongoose Town”, burned tyres and blocked the road yesterday to protest against the police’s fatal shooting of Mark “Tall Man” Bail.
Police say Bail, 23, was killed when members of a patrol team went in search of him in connection with yesterday’s 3:30 am murder of Donovan Samuels. The body of Samuels, who is also from Mongoose Town, was found with multiple gunshots wounds at the Portia Simpson Miller Square on Hagley Park Road.
About three hours after Samuels’ death, lawmen cordoned off Bail’s home.
“He reportedly ran from the building, with a gun in his hand, and was fatally shot,” the police’s information arm reported. “A .380 semi automatic pistol, serial number AP389515 with two rounds of ammunition was seized.”
According to the police, Bail was also wanted in connection with the April 25 shooting death of Marvin Thompson at Waltham Park Road.
After Bail was slain yesterday, a crowd converged on the scene with residents lambasting the police and stressing that the cops were the only ones who had fired their weapons.
“The police come and take him outa him bed an’ shoot him inna him underpants,” one man who claimed to have been an eyewitness to the killing told the Observer.
Their anger was fueled by another recent cop killing. According to residents, another man, identified only as “Geeps”, was initially accosted by police in the area and shot in the foot. He was then taken away from the area by the police and was later declared dead, residents said. The Hunts Bay police, however, were yesterday unable to supply any details about that incident.
Others complained of recent cases of police brutality, saying they have been bearing the brunt of the blame for the killing of 56 year-old Mavis Johnson who was slain as she made her way home from church. According to a police report, a gunman approached Johnson and shot her dead.
Yesterday’s roadblock was eventually cleared by members of the Trench Town Fire Brigade and the security forces. However the residents have vowed to keep blocking the road in order to vent their anger at the latest police killing.
One man, 34 year-old Brian Samuels, has since been taken into custody and charged with malicious destruction of property after allegedly using a stone to break the window of a police service vehicle during the protest.