Works Minister Anthony Boots Martinez returned to the country from Guatemala this afternoon to some dramatic news. His personal car, a Nissan Maxima was shot up in the Port Loyola area in a deliberate and targeted act.
His driver Michael Sutherland was in the Reggae Street Area of Port Loyola this morning when another man – also named Sutherland – inquired as to the whereabouts of the minister – and when he did not get the answer he wanted, he fired three shots at the Maxima. No one was inside the car but the windshield was destroyed and the trunk also has a bullet hole. Boots Martinez took it in stride, he said it’s a new way for someone to send a message that they want to see him.
Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez, Minister of Works
“The driver of the vehicle told me that one Kevin Sutherland, he was outside the vehicle, and one Kevin Sutherland came up and pointed a gun at him and said you the f—around, whe the boss deh and he responded and said he is not the boss’ keeper and the man just turned around and shoot the car three times. That is the report from the driver who is Michael Sutherland.
And also, Kevin Sutherland is the family of Michael Sutherland. But all indications, even to people in the area that there was no rift, that was exactly what happened and that’s it. It looks like that is the new way of people saying they want to see you. It is a rough way.”
Jules Vasquez,
“How do you feel about the entire incident? This is your personal vehicle, it is a vehicle that your family uses, and it’s been shot because of you, because the man said he has business with you or he wants to see you.”
Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“Well I don’t know, like what I said, obviously it feels a way. I will be extra cautious like anything else but again you can’t look in the country and community and allow…lawlessness in my view cannot win. It only looks like it can win and it is just in my view isolated pockets here and there. You have the criminal elements who don’t want to do nothing, don’t want to find work, that’s it.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Do you have any business with this gentleman, and by business I mean it both ways, any private business or any public business that he is supposed to see about a house or something like that?”
Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“Well I don’t know…I don’t have none but even if that is so, public business to see you about a house, that is the way how you want to see people about a house.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Or goods and services.”
Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“That is the way how you want to see people about goods and services? No man that is a criminal act and I condemn those kinds of acts and I am sure that and I am forceful in making sure that the police deal with it and I have no business with Mr. Kevin Sutherland. He is not even a constituent of mine, he is a constituent in Queen’s Square. But I know him and I know him fairly well.”
Jules Vasquez,
“So if you know him fairly well, why would he do such a thing to a vehicle that he should know is your personal ride?”
Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“Well I don’t have his head you see. I wish I had his head. I sure that if I have his head that I wouldn’t do that. It leaves me to wonder but that’s life.”
And while Minister Martinez can’t figure out what was happening in the shooter’s head, he also can’t say what was in a police officer’s head when he proposed to the Minister’s driver that the matter be settled out of court.
Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez,
“I have some fundamental problems with what my driver said to me when he reported to CIB of one officer telling him to have insurance pay for it. Now that is not a civil act, that is a criminal act. That suggesting in my view, that is a sort of protection for criminals. We are not here to protect criminals. We are here to deal with criminals so I don’t see that in no other sense or way in terms of my interpretation. That is a criminal act.”
The Sutherland who allegedly fired the shot is not a constituent of Port Loyola, he comes from Queen’s Square and Martinez says he knows him fairly well. He does have relatives who live in Queen’s Square.
