REAL NEWS: What some residents view as the Police’s “reckless” discharge of rubber bullets and live rounds in the heart of the city, last week, reportedly almost injured a motorist.
In a widely circulated video, police officers are seen attempting to subdue a young man with mental challenges, last Thursday, August 31.
In the process, an officer discharges a firearm in the midst of moving traffic and pedestrians, many of whom had to run out of the way.
The officer was shooting at Rashawn Shabazz, who reportedly had been throwing stones and being a nuisance to persons in the Perry Bay area, while being armed with a knife.
Now, REAL News has received information that a 60-year-old All Saints man was nearly injured during the incident, and he has made a complaint to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). It is alleged that the left side mirror of his Hyundai vehicle was struck by a stray bullet during the police operation on Lower Vivian Richards Street near the Bridge Service Station.
A source says the man was fortunate that the bullet damaged only his vehicle and did not strike him. And she accuses the police officer of having been irresponsible as he tried to subdue the suspect, since other persons could have been seriously injured. Even if the suspect had been deemed a threat to the public, the source says, discharging live rounds in a public space is dangerous.
Further, she says, at the time he was shot, the mentally challenged man was running away, after having already struck the officer with a stone.
This incident occurred at about 11:35 a.m. on the day in question. In a related incident, the mother of Rashawn Shabazz, the shooting victim, also reported to the Police that he had injured her earlier that morning, at about 4:50 a.m.
The woman, a resident of No. 2 George Street, is alleged to have telephoned the Grays Farm Police Station and complained that Shabazz had wounded her.
Officers reportedly went to the home, where the woman told them that her son had thrown a stone through her bedroom window and it had struck her at the back of the head.
She was reportedly instructed, by the officers, to seek medical attention for her injury.
The officers also made observations of the damaged window and
noted that two panes of louvre glass had been broken by the stone.
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A search reportedly was conducted for Shabazz, but he was nowhere to be found – until later that morning, when he was confronted and shot by the Police after menacing people in the Perry Bay area.
Shabazz was shot in the lower abdominal area and has lost a kidney, which was damaged by a bullet. He remains a patient in stable condition at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre.
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