Differing accounts from Morvant police-involved killings

Police and Morvant residents have put forward conflicting accounts of what led to the police-involved killing of two men on Tuesday morning.

Police said officers of the North Eastern Division visited Petunia Avenue, off Coconut Drive, Morvant, at around 11.40 am and began an anti-crime exercise, searching a number of houses.

On entering one house the officers claimed Rivaldo White, 20, aka "Sleepy," pointed a gun at them.

They shot White several times. Another man Isaiah James, 36, aka "Akbar," jumped out of a nearby window and ran to a neighbour's house.

Police chased James to the upstairs bedroom of the house, where they claimed he shot at them. They returned fire, hitting him.

Police took both men to the Port of Spain General Hospital, where they were declared dead.

Officers seized two guns said to be the weapons used by the men.

Newsday visited the scene on Tuesday afternoon and spoke with residents, who dismissed the police's version of events and claimed White was not only unarmed at the time of the shooting, but also asleep when police found him in the bedroom of the house.

"He had his fingers in his mouth, because he sucks his fingers when he sleeps. That's when they (the police) came in and shot him.

"This kind of thing isn't right."

Residents were unable to say much else about White, and relatives said they were too distraught to speak with reporters.

Drops and streaks of blood were still visible on the pavement and the road outside White's home.

Newsday spoke with the owner of the home where James was killed, who said she was at work at the time, but her children were home.

"All of them are really traumatised by what happened.

"They told me he ran through here and ended upstairs the house, but they (the police) followed him upstairs and killed him."

The woman said while she knew of James from the neighbourhood, she did not know much about him.

She let Newsday see the exact spot in the upstairs bedroom where James was killed. Streaks of blood were still visible on a wall and the floor. The bedroom door, which the police broke down, was still on the bed.

One of James' relatives was only able to give the correct spelling of James's name, but unable to say much else, as he was too upset.

North Eastern Division police claimed both White and James were known to them and they suspected the two were affiliates of a Muslim gang in the area.

Contacted for comment, acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob said he did not know much about the incident at the time and preferred not to comment.

"It would be unwise of me to do so, as I don't know much about what happened.

"What I can say is, we are asking people to put down the guns when they are confronted by the police. The police have a use-of-force policy which they rely on when they feel their lives are in danger, or the lives of others are in danger."

Jacob said the killings of White and James brought the number of police-involved killings to 51 for the year thus far.

All police-involved killings are investigated by a First Division Officer (FDO), that is, at the rank of ASP (Assistant Superintendent of Police) or above.