Another Mother Expresses Lack of Faith in local Police!

Something is definitely rotten in this state of ours, particularly when it comes to the May 22 fatal police shooting at the corner of Chaussee and La Pansee roads. This time around the victim was a 17-year-old Entrepot secondary school student named Arnold “Jonah” Joseph. Also wounded, though not fatally, was Glen Gabriel, who was accompanied by his 19-year-old brother, a school teacher. By police account: “About 10:30pm, officers attached to the Special Services Unit received information regarding a suspicious motor vehicle, at Reclamation Grounds, Castries.” What made the vehicle suspicious has been left to public conjecture. Still according to the police release, the responding officers made attempts to stop the vehicle with the mentioned three individuals inside, but to no avail. The motor vehicle in question failed to stop when ordered to and instead “ventured through one-way streets about the city, contravening traffic regulations. During an attempt to apprehend the individuals, one individual was fatally shot, whilst a second was non-fatally injured. A third male was arrested without injury.”

The Use of Force policy, approved back in 2015, “recognizes that law enforcement officers must have the highest regard for the constitutional rights and human rights of all persons. Therefore, as far as possible, law enforcement officers should use only that force which is objectively reasonable and necessary to accomplish lawful ends.”

The police press release claimed “one nine millimetre (9mm) firearm was recovered by officers from the said individuals.” The RSLPF has not said if any shots were fired at officers by the occupants of the “suspicious” vehicle, contrary to what has been bruited about by the Johnnie Cochrans of social media.

Police have listed a number of related charges but not a word about a firearm. 

After acknowledging he had not yet been briefed about the case, that he was vacationing off-island at the time of the incident, Police Commissioner Severin Monchery told this reporter there could still be gun-related charges laid. He advised the investigation was ongoing and it could reveal reason for additional charges. “When you’ve decided to charge somebody and bring them before the court, you need to ensure that you have enough evidence that will allow you to secure a conviction against this person in court,” he said. “So it is not something that is unusual for people to be released and then be rearrested.”

That explanation did not fly with Ludicia Gabriel, mother of the two Gabriels who survived the police shooting. “I want the truth to come out so we can be done with this case,” she said. “I know my children. I know they are not violent children, so I just want these things to be cleared up. My older son, Glen, cannot work because he is nursing a gunshot wound. Right now he’s asking why these things are happening to him because he knows he doesn’t put himself into those kinds of situations. He was just going to drop Arnold off at his mother’s home in La Clery and look at what ended up happening.”

Gabriel said her two sons are still very affected by their experience with the police. “My younger son is still crying about it. Both have not been eating since this happened. They don’t like what they’re being accused of. They lost a friend who was like a brother to them. They buried two of their brothers two years ago; one of them died in the Rayneau quarry explosion.”

Yet another case remaining to be reported on by the office of the DPP. 

Gabriel also spoke about Joanna Joseph, mother of the deceased. “She visits my sons from time to time. She’s always there with them, trying to cheer them up.”

Recently the police confirmed there were approximately 500 cold cases on their books, including Kimberly Williams-De Leon, whose husband is a member of the force.