And while the GSU is much in the news - the biggest controversy surrounding the unit is whether three of the weekend's killing were direct retaliation for an aggressive GSU search of George Street personalities as they were going to the funeral of Shamir Medina, who has been linked to that gang.
But tonight, we have the other side of that story. Shamir's mother, Pamela Medina agreed to speak to Monica Bodden today on the condition that she speaks off camera.
She said that the pain of losing her son to a callous murder is aggravated by all this talk about gangs. Our story is supplemented by footage of the GSU search which was provided to us courtesy LOVE Television. Again, she asked to appear off camera:
Pamela Medina, Shamir's mother
"It's a pain that is indescribable; especially when it's a person that hasn't played the game yet, hasn't even check mate Monica but that all right. All those self righteous men can stand up there and pat their chest - God doesn't think like a man or else all of them would have a heart attack and fall right down because they are so phony, they are so full of it. People will believe what they want to believe you know Monica - for me, my baby is dead, they took away my calm from me and I don't really care and that might sound harsh. I cannot feel anybody pain, I only can feel my pain. The pain hurts. It's some wicked and evil people who sit down and manifest how they will kill a child who didn't do them anything wrong."
I don't appreciate the fact that they are using my child's name even now from the grave after he have died 10 days now. I don't think that it is right, I wish they would stop and if nobody else is not a saint; he was my saint and I love him unconditionally from conception to his grave and to eternity. If there is any retaliation of Shamir's death - it is the disrespectful behavior of the police officers that do not know how to let people grieve when they have their death in peace."
I don't say the police officers are not supposed to be there. If they are instructed to be there to keep the peace - hands off, observe what is happening. Keep the peace. How about searching the people after the funeral? Let's reverse then if they feel like they have to search someone - why not search them when it's all over? When they funeral is over and they see walking away and they say that nobody is to move because they want to conduct a search - so if they went there with their weed, they would have find the weed because they didn't leave. If they went there with guns, the police would have found it because they (the people) didn't leave because they still had them contain."
"I am at the burial site, as the mother I got there before anybody else, only for them to come in and say that the police officers have three vehicles out there with young men and women spread all over the road conducting search. If anybody is angry about anything I think they need to stop disrespecting people when people need to grieve. The first person who disrespected us was Sgt. Sanchez at Karl Heusner Hospital because my son-in-law was talking about what happen. You know when people are grieving they express themselves in different ways. The officer told him that he should not come there and make noise, he should go to Plues Street at the crime scene."
Monica Bodden
"That was what was said to your son-in-law?"
Pamela Medina, Shamir's mother
"That's right, I said well good. I left the rest for their imagination, but it has nothing to do with me. They must be careful in dealing with people since they turn us into sub-humans and it is only the Asians and Indians and anybody with their high color are people and we are not people - they create their own hell."
Monica Bodden
"When the guys from George Street actually got to the cemetery. Was Shamir already in the ground covered?"
Pamela Medina, Shamir's mother
"He was in the ground covered all the way up; all the dirt was already on him. The burial was over."
Monica Bodden
"So they miss the entire burial?"
Pamela Medina, Shamir's mother
"They miss the entire burial. This has nothing to do with Shamir. They need to stop hide behind a defenseless child. I used to come home many evenings and wonder where the police and BDF are. It was not only Rocky Road that needed police to look after them, but everybody needs it. When I spoke to certain officer he says that he was going to talk to Mr. Vidal right now, I told him that they need to send some officers out here. They stay for a while and then they go about their business. By the time boledo is play - you dint see any officers, they gone."
"Who was here when they chance my child, dodge him and shot him in the back a few feet from his gate where he lives for 19 years. I live here for 51 years. So who is so important that I must feel their pain? Who felt my pain? How much black kids get kill every day. Mothers get kill around here already, sisters get kill. Do you see those self righteous people out there saying anything? Nope. But people, better be aware because this is what is what your country is resulting to. You will be nobody, they will take off your people off the busses and practical lynch them to death."
According to Marco Vidal -Officer Commanding of the Gang Suppression Unit - regarding the funeral procession search, they received information and simply acted on it. He told 7news and we quote, "in essence we were doing the job we were supposed to be doing. Our action was not calculated to offend or disrespect anyone but we have a mandate that we need to carry out and we will carry it out. He continued by saying, " What are we to say? Because we fear that criminals will commit crime we will not police - that is not an option." End of quote.
