TENSION IN HELL YARD

JENSEN LA VENDE and NALINEE SEELAL

THERE is tension in Hell Yard, Beetham Gardens following the death of 20-year-old Akile “Alkaline” Thomas who was killed by police during the early morning hours yesterday.

The death of Thomas will not go the way of other police killings, his relatives warned as they readied themselves to go to the Forensic Science Centre for his autopsy.

Thomas of Phase Five, Beetham Gardens was declared dead at 7 am after being shot multiple times by police in Hell Yard half an hour earlier. Police claimed they were on patrol when they met Thomas sitting in a chair at the side of the road.

On seeing the lawmen, Thomas pulled a gun but before he could fire, he was shot. He ran a short distance before collapsing. Police said while transporting Thomas they saw an ambulance heading west along the Priority Bus Route (PBR) and stopped them. The ambulance took Thomas to the Port of Spain General Hospital.

The police version of the killing is not much different from residents except that they are claiming Thomas had no gun and was riddled by mask-wearing policemen. According to residents, Thomas was in a chair when police came from behind and shot him. He was dragged and shot again before being thrown in an ambulance, which residents said, police had on standby. “The police come to kill!” they exclaimed. Thomas’ mother Tricia Sampson told Newsday she last saw her son on Tuesday night talking on his phone in his room. They didn’t speak. The next day a neighbour telephoned her to say he was shot. When she arrived at hospital, he was already dead.

“They say he have 45 charges but he had one case in his life for a small amount of weed this year and that was it. That get discharge the same day he went to court. My son was not in anything. He don’t be outside. His favourite thing to do was sleep,” Sampson said.

Relatives and Beetham residents said they will be seeking justice and exploring all avenues. They promised to “not let this die”. Tasha Thomas, an aunt of the deceased, said her nephew spent the night at a friend’s home and yesterday morning he had on a hoodie sleeping on a bench outside his friend’s home.

She said a woman who went to purchase bread told Akiel to go inside and sleep but he paid no heed. She said based on what she was told, police officers were in the area seeking out people on warrants and for outstanding crimes when they saw Akiel and shot him 17 times.

“It real tense in Hell Yard right now. We are incensed, everyone in Phase 5 crying right now but we will kneel down and pray to God and ask for His divine intervention to get justice for Akiel,” Thomas said. She said relatives will report the matter to the Professional Standards Bureau and Police Complaints Authority (PCA).

“They always targeting us, especially young, black teenagers in this community. Why don’t they go elsewhere and treat people in other communities like this? Why are they making our lives so miserable,” an angry resident asked.

Shortly after the killing, residents gathered on the southern side of the PBR and confronted the police, accusing them of murder and cursing them. Residents later complained that they were threatened with death by lawmen.

Sensing tensions were mounting by the minute, reinforcements were called in an heavily armed police in riot gear gathered on the northern side of the PBR awaiting any disturbance.

Police said Thomas was a sentry on lookout duty for a known gang leader. Police told the irate residents that those who saw the shooting should file a report to the PCA and allow justice to flow naturally. Police arrested one man for using obscene language, but residents claimed he was arrested in order to prevent him from telling reporters what he saw when Thomas was shot.

Children as young as nine were seen mimicking what they heard had happened to Thomas, dramatising how his limp body convulsed after being shot.

The children asked reporters how they would feel if police killed their relative. The children said the police were bad to kill Thomas, “just so”.