THEY DREW FIRST BLOOD

Police Commissioner Gary Griffith said his police officers “did not draw first blood” in the shooting at Big Yard, Carenage, in which 14-year-old Naomi Nelson, last Friday.

Keron Eve and Kareem Baldwin Roberts were also killed in the gunfire between police officers and some individuals who were liming in the area. Three others were wounded and one police was shot, but escaped serious injury as he was wearing a bullet-proof vest at the time. The incident sparked fiery protests by residents who cried out for justice, “An eye for an eye.”

At yesterday’s weekly police press briefing at Police Administration Building, Sackville Street, Port of Spain, Griffith sought to show what transpired during the incident with a diagram showing the position of the police vehicle heading along the Western Main Road, a group liming north of the vehicle, and Nelson’s position south of the vehicle.

“You, the public, decide. The officer would have fired north towards the shooters. They fired towards the police vehicle. What is behind the police vehicle? The young lady. We must get the facts first before we let perception become reality.”

Griffith while said some felt the police were culpable for what took place, no one mentioned the fact that one of his police officers was shot during this fire fight, or that his life was saved because he had a bullet proof vest.

“The fact of the matter is that over 99 per cent of occasions when someone has a bullet proof vest and the other person does not and there is a fire fight between the two individuals, I’ll ask the public to think about it. Who is the person to shoot first?

“If I have a bullet proof vest and I fire at someone first, that individual would have rocked back. He would not have the capacity to have an accurate shot to hit the police officer on his vest with his bullet proof vest. However, if someone has a bullet proof vest and you shoot at that person, he may still have the mental capacity to have an aimed shot and accurate fire. So, let the public decide who fired first, who drew first blood. We did not draw first blood.”

Griffith said the police had intelligence that certain individuals were notorious gang members and leaders that had been involved in many situations of gang activity in Carenage over the last few years.

He said they were aware that there was a war out there.

He said it had become the norm with certain gang members where they felt that a certain area, a certain turf, a certain community, belonged to them. He said unmarked vehicles were targets when entering certain communities.

He had a warning for those who were concerned about unmarked police vehicles.

“I intend to rent 50 more unmarked vehicles, and we intend to flood these areas because no area, no street, no community, no block belongs to any criminal element and that is what has happened in Big Yard, Carenage. These individuals saw an unmarked vehicle they decided to fire.”

He said there had been several shootings in Big Yard in the last month, but there were no protests because they because they were gang members shooting each other. He when police were in a fire fight with gang members, it became a concern.

When questioned by a reporter whether police could have avoided the situation, Griffith did not take kindly to that.

“Agreed, if the person was shooting at the police officer, he could have done a ‘Matrix,’ spun around and seized the weapon. You watch too many movies, sir. If somebody is firing a shot at you, the only thing you can do is to fire back. You watch too many Avengers movies, it doesn’t work that way.”

Griffith said there were two firearms recovered at the scene, including the one used to fire at the officer.