Police killing sparks outrage in Mountain View

ANGER erupted in sections of Mountain View Avenue, St Andrew, yesterday following the killing of a 19-year-old man by the police.

Residents alleged that Romarco Wilson was shot in cold blood while at his home at about 12:30 pm. The fuming residents blocked several roads in the community with burning tyres and other objects in protest.

"The youth was at his home; him just talk to him mother about a hour before and she leave him. That was when a group of police came to the area and just go in a him house and shoot him dead," one female resident told the Jamaica Observer.

Wilson's mother, Mitchelle Dickson, said she spoke to her son not long before the incident. She said she had asked him to accompany her on the road, but he declined and opted to stay home and watch television.

"Mi son don't even smoke. Him nuh trouble people. He was not a criminal," she said.

The protest disrupted the flow of traffic along busy Mountain View Avenue, forcing many motorists to use alternative routes. The situation was brought under control when a joint police/military team was summoned to the area.

"This not going to go just so; di police dem kill di youth in cold blood and we tired of this," one obviously distraught man said.

Still fresh on the residents minds was a similar killing last year involving police youth club member 25-year-old Kavorn Schue. Reports at the time were that Schue was shot and killed inside his Jarrett Lane home.

"A last year dem kill di other youth, and little over one year later the same thing come happen; this nah go so," one woman said as she held up a picture of the slain man.

Yesterday, senior police personnel also visited the community in an attempt to speak to the residents. However, the citizens hurled insults on them, pointing out that the police had betrayed their trust.

Up to press time last night there was no official report from the police on the matter.

However, the police had earlier said that they would continue to maintain a presence in the area as there were several flare-ups between rival gangs in the area.

The Independent Commission of Investigations has launched a probe into the killing.