'They were slaughtered in cold blood'

Shrewsbury residents up in arms against alleged police shooting of three youth

Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:Anger is still brewing in the Shrewsbury district near Petersfield, Westmoreland, where three young men were killed in an alleged police shoot-out, which residents claim was cold-blooded murder.

"They (the police) are lying …. No shoot-out took place here," an elderly resident told Western Focus on Wednesday.

"The men were slaughtered in cold blood … . They were no thugs … . They were law-abiding young men, and we are not going to have the police destroy their good names."

In the incident, which sparked several days of protests in Westmoreland and in sections of St Elizabeth, brothers 28-year-old fireman Andrew Brydson and 24-year-old Tristan Brydson, and their cousin, 38-year-old chef Rupert Green were killed at a shop where they had gone to buy refreshments.

Following the shooting and subsequent protests, two police-men from the Savanna-la-Mar Police Station were removed from front-line duties.

Karl Angell, director of communications at the Constabulary Communication Network, in a press release, acknowledged the shooting and said two guns - a pistol and a rifle had been recovered by the police.

But the residents are questioning this.

"Everybody in Shrewsbury knows that no illegal guns were taken from the men," a resident said. "Are we to believe that the police have an arsenal of illegal guns to plant on people they kill without justification?"

"If they said they made a mistake, we could accept that," an elderly woman told Western Focus. "However, we will not accept any version that says the men were killed in a shoot-out and that illegal guns were recovered."

SHAKEN UP

Pastor Vincent Cole of the Shrewsbury Church of God, where the men were members, said his congregation was still badly shaken by the incident.

"I have had to be doing a lot of counselling and consoling as the people are grieving," said Cole. "There was no shoot-out … . It was an unprovoked attack by the police, and it has upset the people."

While the relationship between the police, and the residents appear to be in tatters, some residents say they want to make it clear that they are not anti-police.

"We are not against the police … . We just want those who have done wrong to be punished," said a church brother of the deceased men. "These men were among the best among us … . It would be a shame if we did not stand up for justice for them."