And as we told you at the top of the newscast – the Keon Swasey killing is just the backdrop to gang warfare that’s raging on the city’s streets. And it flared up with a violent surge last night. At about 6:15, Vince Martinez was in a car on Kraal Road when a man rode by on a bike and opened fire. One of the bullets hit Martinez in the lower back. About 45 minutes later, a Scenes of Crime team were processing the scene of the shooting when a gunman standing at the corner of Kraal Road and Neal’s Pen Road opened fire apparently on the police personnel. Civilian George Young was in the area at the time and one of the bullets hit him in the right wrist. And even though the shooter opened fire in the presence of police – he wasn’t captured.
It is a frightening escalation of an already lawless gang war – and police – as expected have responded with a sweeping operation to make mass detentions of suspected troublemakers. And that’s where our story tonight begins this morning on kraal road when police descended on the area looking for suspects in last night’s shootings.
Keith SwiftReporting,
Our cameras captured the two police mobiles loaded with armed officers descending on kraal road to raid a house at the corner of Kraal Road and Haynes Street.
Officers quickly jumped out and that is when the taping stopped because as you can see –Corporal Randy Sanchez approached and took the camera away from videographer Codie Noralez. We’ll replay the video and listen closely as he approached and immediately accosted the cameraman and seized the camera.
Cpl. Randy Sanchez to Codie Noralez: “Give me this camera. Out it off.”
We had no choice but to cut it off. We resumed taping, just as police were leaving the area with four detainees in the pan of a pickup. One of those detainees was Felisha Moguel’s brother who she claims was on the toilet when the officers barged in.
Felisha Moguel, Sister of Deceased
“My brother, he just woke up and was in the bathroom. You guys see how stupid they act. They even threatened to take a senior citizen to the police station. That was so disrespectful and not necessary. It was uncalled for. The guys that they took were my friends and my brother. He has no idea what it is happening, he doesn’t know what happened last night. They took him out of his bed. He is stone cold drunk. He is probably still drunk up to now and they took him out of his bed. He doesn’t have an idea of what happened last night.”
And just as we were done talking – another caravan of mobiles blew past Kraal Road with more detainees who were picked up from the government barracks
on Faber’s Road which is where we found an angry Ann Requena.
Ann Requena, Mother of Detainee.
“They just left from here. They took all of them just now. They took them to go and beat them up. They have us in suspense. They got me frightened. This is lone stupidness. Those boys can’t even spend their Christmas.”
Barbara Cleland, Mother of Detainee
“I angry bad because I was just telling my friends that my son was home and when I looked my son was coming on the bike and the police they searched him, put him in the truck, and told him you are eighteen and so you are gunman. I make them know that my son is not a gunman. He is going to school, he is in fourth form.”
But the sweep was in response to two shootings last night on kraal road. In one of the incidents, a gunman opened fire on a police Scenes of Crime team.
Felisha Moguel,
“I don’t know everything that happened, all we heard were gunshots. But this is the way how we live around here. We have to live in fear. We don’t know what is going on and I have small kids. So we have to live in fear.
When the first gunshots happened, there were no, absolutely no police, none absolutely none out here. When the second shots rang out, police stood on the street and did nothing. About ten people were on street or more than ten people and they knew what was happening and the police stood by and did nothing. The police even made a comment that, ‘I want them to kill all unu.’ That is what the police said.”
These residents say the police have destroyed their Christmas.
Felisha Moguel,
“We won’t have a Christmas. We aren’t having a Christmas because of this. We are not having a Christmas.”
Ann Requena,
“Mek I tell you, the police cause more problem. Those police are causing more problems because that what they are doing, will make the problem get bigger.”
Despite repeated requests, police did not make available any senior police officer to comment on the escalating gang war in the city streets – which primarily pits George Street against the South Side Gangsters. Sources tell us that the violence has escalated because both sides have now formed alliances with other crews.
And while the police have been sweeping up any and all suspects, when they took physical hold of our camera and threatened to arrest Keith Swift for protesting against the abuse, the crossed a line and we register the strongest condemnation of the police’s unlawful, reprehensible and needless assault on the media. Needless because, as is standard, the media complies with any reasonable request from police – but the bullish behaviour is unwarranted and sets a worrying precedent. But of course it’s not surprising to see police assault and forcibly muzzle the media considering that their boss – current Compol Crispin Jeffries has done so many times without sanction or apology – in fact he even got promoted! This particular bit of footage is from the unrest of 2005.
