INSIDE THE SLIGOVILLE STAND-OFF

“POLICE, we a go pull the door, just wait nuh. Mi nuh waan dead enuh!” One of the children inside the ill-fated house in the Five Miles area off the Sligoville main road in St Catherine shouted these words as she and two other occupants of the premises seemingly negotiated with law enforcers to cease their gunfire so they could exit the house last Friday amid a stand-off with alleged gunmen inside the building. A video recording seen by the Jamaica Observer captured some of what was happening inside the house while law enforcers were outside. The 18-minute 25-second video was captured during a WhatsApp video call with relatives during Friday morning’s daring gun battle. The video cuts out for much of the recording, with an onscreen notification saying “video paused”, but the audio can still be heard. The child, who the Sunday Observer has been told is the 10-year-old girl who was injured in the incident, is heard appealing to one of the occupants of the house to open the door. At another point in the recording, the child is heard saying to law enforcers: “Police, yuh see me, right? Do not shoot me, yuh hear?” A voice, seemingly from outside, confirmed. “Do not shoot me family dem either, yuh hear?” the child added. Reports from the police are that members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Specialised Operations Branch came under gunfire after going in search of a high-risk target identified as Kenroy Willis, who operates out of the St Andrew North Police Division and is wanted for four murders. The police, who returned gunfire, said men barricaded themselves inside a house with a woman and children. During the stand-off, the men indicated that they wanted to surrender, and reportedly used one of the children to signal their willingness to lay down their illegal firearms, by holding a “child out the door”. “When the police approached, seeking to retrieve the child, fire was opened upon those policemen,” senior communications strategist at the Jamaica Constabulary Force Dennis Brooks told journalists metres from the shooting scene on Friday. According to the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), 10 people, including two minors, three police officers, and one member of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), sustained gunshot wounds. Three men — Errol Hussey, his son Malique Hussey, and nephew Javoun Cogle, said to be the gunmen — were also fatally shot. Two of the policemen have since died, with Corporal Trevoy Shaw succumbing on Friday and Constable Devoney Rose of Thomas Road in Ewarton, St Catherine, succumbing to his injuries on Saturday. The police have also reported that two firearms, including a rifle, were seized. However, a relative of the alleged gunmen is accusing the police of murder while calling for an independent investigation into the deaths of Corporal Shaw and Constable Rose. That relative, who lives overseas, said she was on a WhatsApp call with one of the now-deceased men during the reported stand-off. She told the Sunday Observer that her family members were in the process of surrendering to the police when they were killed. “We were watching them because we are on WhatsApp video, we have our little family group…we on WhatsApp video and we a watch them a surrender,” the relative told the Sunday Observer on Saturday. She said the WhatsApp call was disconnected when they went outside, but related what happened next based on reports from another occupant of the house. “Him have [the child] in his hand, she [alleged eyewitness] said, and him say, ‘Don’t kill [the child] enuh.’ Dem take the baby from him, beat him and kill him in front [the child], kill mi other [relative], and then [Errol] now weh deh a the door a come out — him nuh have no firearm — him run back in, not fi nuh firearm, because him done surrender the one gun weh dem have,” the relative said. According to the relative, Errol was kneeling by a bed when he was killed. Admitting that the elder Hussey was not innocent because he did, in fact, have an illegal Glock firearm, the relative who spoke to the Sunday Observer is insisting that one Glock pistol could not have done the damage that is being described by the police. She is also contending that the policemen were killed by their colleagues. “Mi nah say [Errol] never have a gun, so there was a gun inna the house. But fi him fi use that one gun and shoot two police, now mi need fi know what gun dem say him did have. It was not a rifle, it was a Glock; they had no rifle. “The whole story is not true. If they investigate, you will find out that is police bullet hit police,” she said, adding, “So they got so emotional because a police died… that even when they surrendered and went out[side], dem beat them and kill dem out a door. “And a nuh dem drag dem out… they came out, because we were on the phone with them,” the relative said. She is insisting that the narrative from the police cannot continue. “It is not right, and they continue to do these things and paint people like a big shootout,” she said. In the video seen by the Sunday Observer, while no faces were visible, the voices of the men and a child are heard. The recording starts with two men on the floor of a section of the house, with glimpses of a dresser in another room and the legs of someone, dressed in military garb and holding what appears to be a shield, can be seen just outside a doorway in the other room. “Come out now, come out now, rude boy, yuh good,” said the voice from just outside the next room. “Dem a say, ‘Don’t go out deh, don’t go out deh,’ ” responded one of the men from inside the house. The man just outside the door replied: “A me a control yah suh and a me a tell yuh fi come out.” Another voice is heard assuring the man inside that he is “good” and can exit the room as they were seeing his hand. The occupant of the house queried whether “sojie” is the one talking to him, declaring that he’d prefer to talk to the soldier. A soldier seemingly confirmed that he was in fact speaking to a member of the JDF. The man inside the house explained that he was not the one firing a gun. The dialogue continued and gunfire can be heard. “Woi, officer, the baby, mi nah nuh gun officer!” said one of the men inside. Another voice could be heard adding: “We a di door nah nuh gun; two a we nah nuh gun… a one man a shoot.” As the occupants continue to appeal to those outside the house not to shoot and declare that they are coming out, a child’s voice is heard: “Don’t shoot.” “Sojie, we a come out, we swear, but a nuh we a fire,” said one of the men inside the house. “Yuh see the two smaddy weh nah fire, we a come out with the baby, yuh hear?” The man inside then questions if they want to kill everyone inside and the baby before shortly declaring that he is going to stand up, but what he is holding in his hand is a phone. The video then pauses around three minutes and 40 seconds, but the audio can still be heard. They continue to seemingly negotiate with the law enforcers in order to exit the building, with them being ordered to throw the gun outside and show their hands. At five minutes and 47 seconds, gunfire rings out. “The man weh have the gun, him nuh wan come out,” shouted one of the men inside the house. “A nuh we a fire the shot enuh, a nuh we a fire the shot.” The video then resumes at six minutes and four seconds. Three pairs of feet are visible, two seemingly sitting on the floor and the third suspended from an area above the frame of the video. There is a glimpse of a handgun in one of the men’s hands. They all appear to be behind a door, including a child seemingly sitting in the lap of one of the men on the floor. The men inside continue to declare that they are going to exit the house. Occasional gunfire can be heard, and the men continue to declare that they are not the ones shooting. The child is then heard saying: “Police, we a go pull the door, just wait nuh. Mi nuh waan dead enuh!” The video is paused again at eight minutes and 28 seconds. The men are heard declaring that their hands are empty and that they were going to open the door, while also making it clear that the baby is also at the door. They also asked if the law enforcers were looking at the door. During this exchange between the men inside the house and the law enforcers, the child is heard saying repeatedly: “Daddy, stop!” A voice from outside is heard asking: “Yuh a work with me?” The occupants inside the house, including the child, responded: “Yea, we a work with yuh.” The audio continues. When it gets to 11 minutes and 57 seconds, a voice from outside is heard saying: “Come, man. Nobody fire.” Inside, the child is heard saying, “Pull the door.” They continued to plead their case that they were not shooting, with one of the men asking what guarantee they had that they wouldn’t still be killed. One of the men is heard declaring that he is 21 years old and just had a child so he does not want to die. At about 17:52 seconds, gunfire is again heard. The men in the audio declare: “A nuh we, a nuh we. We nah fire nuh shot. A nuh we… God know!” The child is also heard saying: “A nuh we.” The gunfire continues. “A nuh we fi true. Mi fada dung deh,” said one of the men before the audio and recording end at 18 minutes and 25 seconds. The relative who spoke to the Sunday Observer said she could speak for one of the deceased men, Javoun, and she knows he is not involved in anything gun-related. “We have the audio, but we don’t have the video of them going out. [It was] at the door when they surrendered and reached out to them then the phone shut off. “It was a blatant murder,” she said. The relative added: “The way the house look now, yuh can’t recognise the house the amount a shot, and is one Glock they had, so you know a nuh dem do that… “This is not right. They can’t keep doing this… the truth must be told… Mi really want see if a really [Errol] shoot the police dem because, based pon weh me a hear, shot dem just a guh, guh, guh from two sides; dem nuh must shoot each other,” she claimed.