Masked men open fire on neighbourhood

After Alfred Richard, also known as ‘Ding Ding’ of Bois Patat was killed in the Prime Minister Stephenson King’s constituency office in La Clery in September 2010, the prime minister told the nation, “No one is safe.”
Crime had literally arrived at King’s doorstep, so much so that the island’s political leader had to be whisked away to safety when the man who’d been waiting to speak with him in the balcony of his constituency office was gunned down.
Richard had just been released from the Bordelais Correctional Facility at the time and the prime minister said the young man had come to him for assistance with getting a job.
Four months later tragedy struck again for Richard’s family. Richard’s 28-year-old brother Kimroy Simon was gunned down by police as was another young man from Bois Patat, Jason Warrican, also known as ‘Breadman.’
“You’re lucky you got to meet me, I could’ve died last night,” said a young man I spoke with in the Bois Patat community as he took this reporter around the community. At around 10:46pm Tuesday night gunfire erupted and young men in the area, including my 23-year-old ‘tour guide’ all had to run for their lives as gunmen rained shots on their ‘cool out spot’ that night.
Six days before Tuesday night’s shootout JasonWarrican and Kimroy Simon were shot while police executed search warrants at their separate residences.
According to police, Simon “pointed his loaded firearm in the direction of the officers upon entering his house. He was shot in the process.” In Jason’s case, the 28-year-old also “pointed his firearm in their direction, resulting in Warrican being shot in the process.”
Jason Warrican was taken to the Victoria Hospital where he was pronounced dead that same day. Kimroy Simon succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, January 16 at Victoria Hospital.
According to police, both men were suspects in connection with the death of 33-year-old, Junior Chris Jean, also known as ‘Kelly’ from Morne-Du-Don, Castries. Kelly was shot dead about 10pm on Sunday, January 8, near his home.
Kimroy’s mother who lives overseas returned home as soon as she got news that her son had been shot. When the STAR met up with her this week, she provided more details as to what had transpired the night her son was shot.
“My daughter told me they arrested Kimroy early on the Tuesday and let him go the same day,” she started. “Wednesday morning at 4:30am they (the police) came. My daughter told me her son was up and she was changing him. She heard a noise and was just listening because she thought it was bad boys. She was afraid.
“She told me she heard them shout ‘police,’ then they kicked the door and went in the gate. Kimroy said “I’m going to open for you,” and he was probably trying to put his pants on because she got the pants on the floor with blood in it.                 “When they give the bullet she started screaming. She said, “What my brother do yall going to kill him, yall killing him!” They told her to stay upstairs don’t come downstairs. She heard one gunshot but the doctor told her it was two.
“The first thing they said is that he wanted to escape, then they said he had a gun, so I really don’t know,” she continued. “This is a gang thing, all drugs and things like that, that’s what going on here now. Too many guns in the country. To say you have two sons and both of them die like that, it’s really hard.”
Friends and family on both sides questioned why the two men had been arrested for drug related offences the day before they were shot and released the same day, particularly if they were murder suspects.
“If he’s a murder suspect, you arrested him, you have him already, why not take him to CID to question him?” said a young woman who identified herself as Warrican’s cousin. “Where you ever hear they catch someone with drugs and just let them go with no charges?”
The young woman recalled walking into Jason’s home immediately after the shooting only to find that his blood had mysteriously been wiped away and the premises disinfected. Jason’s cousin said she’d witnessed his autopsy and confirmed he’d been shot four times, twice in the chest, once in the leg and the fourth in his mid-section.
“They didn’t want me to see the autopsy and kept telling me I’d have nightmares,” she continued. “I said no, that’s okay. I stayed for the whole thing, even though my belly hurting and I cannot sleep; I still stayed for me to see what happened because the police said he’d been shot twice.”
Bois Patat residents expressed that they felt there was some sort conspiracy at work.
“Last night some fellahs roll on Bois Patat fellahs and knock some shots again,” said one man. “The cops need to know what’s going on.”
Immediately after Kelly’s funeral this week residents say there was another shootout. The most recent shootout on Tuesday has left Bois Patat residents fearing for their lives.
“The fellahs don’t feel like they can go to the police; they don’t know who is who,” he continued.
“They could get killed by the law still so they just have to be there defending themselves, wondering at the end of the day what could happen to them. Right now they’re by themselves, they have no law for them, nobody for them. They have to run for their lives. Who knows if anyone else will get killed? Houses got shot on Tuesday night and shells and all still on the road. They need to check what going on, something is going on.”

“On Tuesday night I felt like everything started all over again,” another woman added. “I had to secure my children. It’s really bad for our area; we couldn’t understand why these guys just came there and fired shots and everyone just have to run for cover.”

On Tuesday night, bullets rained through the roof of one house, smashing part of a meter attached to the front of the house and shooting straight through a glass portion of one woman’s front door.

“Around quarter to 11pm we were cooling out on the block and four or five masked men approached us and started firing bullets after us,” another young man recalled. “I had to run, my leg got injured but nobody got shot.”
SLP candidate for Castries Central Stanley Felix was in the area that day and when asked if he felt enough was being done to protect residents from the area he said: “Not at all. It has been proven this is a crime hot spot, certainly this area requires more attention. I believe in the interim at least so things simmer down somewhat, there needs to be some kind of police presence to allow residents to feel more secure in their homes, whether it be in the day or night time. We have a right to safety. We have a police force that has a duty to protect citizens and government has to find every available means to do just that.”

Of the residents’ conspiracy theory Felix said: “I don’t know about that. I wouldn’t comment on that. I have no evidence on that.”

The STAR also received reports from the police that they are investigating a shooting at Agard, Morne Dudon.
Fifty-one-year-old, John Polius also known as “Menz” was shot several times about 9:15pm, on Sunday January 16. Reports are that Polius was engaged in a board game with a friend near a house at Agard, when a masked man approached him and fired a shot at him. He reportedly ran to the road but the individual pursued and continued firing several shots at him, hitting him about the body. He fell to the ground and was taken to the Victoria Hospital.