It was a bittersweet week for family and friends of Leslie Rogers Jr. As you may remember, the 21-year-old St. John's College student was gunned down by police constable Aldo Ayuso on the night of February 12th 2005. Three days later on February 15th he was to turn 22 but instead of celebrating a birthday, his family held a burial. A year later no one has been charged for Roger's death and today Keith Swift found out how his best friend is trying to ensure that the killing is never forgotten.
Keith Swift Reporting,
It's hard to forget these enduring images of an impassioned ad angry Allan Kelly washing away his friend's blood, or as he called it, his friend's marrow.
Allan Kelly,
[February 12th 2005] "fi we lee bwoy marrow deh pan the ground."
One year later the blood is now gone from the sidewalk but the pain remains.
Allan Kelly,
"It's a year now, a year now, and I still can't get over it, my rest of friends can't get over it. I know Leslie from I was about ten and now I am 22, him and me are the same age, so that is a loss to me that I cannot forget. That is a brother they took away from me innocently."
Both Kelly's pain and his memory are in tact. This morning he vividly replayed
and walked me through a minute-by-minute account of what happened on February 12th of 2005. Kelly says it began here at this corner where King and Amara Streets meet.
Allan Kelly,
"We were standing at this corner right here and then Ayuso and Denroy Barrow came and they told us to get off the lane. They told us to get off the lane and when they told us that, we started to walk away. We just walked and they watched us go in and then Barrow told Rogers to come back. When he said to come back, Rogers asked him where and Rogers continued walking through the alley and Barrow bust a shot in the air."
Kelly says the group continued walking through Water House Alley, as we did this morning. While Kelly went inside the house, he says Rogers continued walking and came face to face with the officers who were at the alley's Amara avenue mouth.
Allan Kelly,
"Ayuso went around and when Ayuso went around, that was when we heard the gunshot but we thought it was another warning shot but people starting shouting that he got shot and at the moment when we ran through the alley, when we ran this way, when we reached on Euphrates all we could see was Rogers on the ground dead."
Leslie Rogers laid dead on this sidewalk and at this very spot. Allan Kelly says it's a spot he'll never forget.
Allan Kelly,
"This was the spot, this was the last spot I ever saw my friend, right at this same spot. This is the last spot I ever saw my friend. What we didn't like was why they didn't they want us to see our friend on this ground here, why did they leave him there for two hours when they could have put him in a vehicle. So even if they shot this man in his head, maybe this man could have lived. They had a purpose why they wanted my friend dead."
Kelly believes they wanted Leslie Rogers dead and now he is demanding justice in return.
Allan Kelly,
"Me personally won't give up. I can't do everything but I will try and do everything I can do. I will try to see how we can get justice. If we can't get justice by the law, we'll have to try and get justice some other way, some other way and that is what we don't want to take it into. I lost a friend and there is no justice between it. It's a year now and so what do they have to tell us? This man will walk away free? This man will do what he wants in this place and get away with it? Something has to come out of this. I will never forget this spot. This spot can never be forgotten."
One spot, one dead friend, and one friend left with only memories and a t-shirt and a bitter taste in his mouth.
Aldo Ayuso was not charged for Leslie Rogers' death. He was on interdiction but lost his job with the department for an unrelated offense. A coroner's inquest is scheduled to take place later this year.
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