Cops killed 3 innocent people

The relatives of three people—a man and two women—shot dead by police on Friday July 22 are demanding
an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

Abigail Johnson, 20, her best friend, Allana Duncan, 28, and construction worker, Kerron Eccles, 26, were shot and killed when police intercepted their car in Barrackpore around 9 p.m.

Police said officers were responding to a report that a man wanted for murder was seen in a car heading into
Barrackpore. There was a chase and the occupants opened fire on the officers, police said.

The officers responded wounding the three. They were pronounced dead at the Princes Town District Hospital. But their relatives believe it was a case of mistaken identity and are crying out for justice.

The suspect was not found in the vehicle, police said.

“My brother was innocent. There are people who saw what happened. The police said it was a roadblock, but they never stopped the car. They just started shooting. They kill the driver first. My brother walk out of the car alive. I don’t know how he ended up dead. People said my brother walk into the police car and by the time we reach the hospital he had a bullet to his chest,” Junior Eccles said.

The families were seeking legal advice and intend to lodge a complaint with the Police Complaints Authority.

“We need justice for this, it is not right. We are talking to people about it because the police cannot just go around killing innocent people. We now understand that the car in which they were travelling was a marked car by police, but that is not how police supposed to operate. They supposed to stop the car,” Eccles said.

Johnson, of Burton Trace, St Mary’s Village, Moruga, was the driving the car which she had borrowed from a friend. Duncan was the front seat passenger, while Eccles, a father of two, was the lone back seat passenger.Johnson’s aunt, Melissa Charles, said her family was also seeking legal advice.

“We want to know what happened and why they were killed. The police are killing innocent people,” she said. The bodies were removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James, where autopsies were performed Monday morning.