IRATE residents of Orange Villa in downtown Kingston — angered by the

police killing of a man in the community — have vowed to keep

protesting until they are given audience by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, National Security Minister Peter Bunting and Police Commissioner Owen Ellington.

 For two consecutive days the residents mounted fiery roadblocks on

busy Orange Street to protest the shooting of 27-year-old Nakiea

Jackson on Monday afternoon. “Somebody have to come. We want higher

hierarchy.

 We nuh want superintendent. We nah take nuh chat from dem,” one angry

protester shouted. Jackson was shot and killed by police in his cook

shop. The police reported that they were on patrol in the area when

they accosted a man who pointed a gun at them. However, the residents

have accused the police of lying.

 The police last night maintained a presence in the area after finally

clearing the roadblock that caused traffic to be diverted from that

section of Orange Street.

 During last night’s protest there were tense moments as the angry

residents badmouthed the police whom they accused of threatening to

enter the community and carry out house-to-house searches.

 At one point, gunshots rang out sending the protesters scampering in

different directions, police officers crouching with their weapons at

the ready and journalists taking cover.

 However, no one was hurt and the noisy protesters eventually gathered

at the entrance to Orange Villa, still venting their wrath. Crime

Officer for the Kingston Central Police Division, Deputy Superintendent

Percival Anderson, said the police would be using restraint as it was

clear the community was hurting.

 “We will not resort to any plan B. No tear gas or force as it’s clear

they are hurting,” Anderson said. About an hour after the Jamaica

Observer arrived on the scene, firefighters from the Kingston Fire

Brigade, which is located beside Orange Villa, came on the scene and

put out the fire. Soon after, a handful of police officers cleared the

debris from the roadway.

 Earlier in the day the food that was prepared by Jackson minutes

before his demise stood as a stark reminder in his cook shop. “We have

no more love for the police. Blood is on your shoulders,” a placard

that had been pasted on a piece of board at the entrance to the

community read in part.

 Shackelia Jackson, the dead man’s sister, was at a loss as to why her

brother was killed for no apparent reason. “I don’t even have time to

be angry at the police. My brother is the martyr, but nobody must

suffer this fate. The police are behaving unprofessional,” Jackson

said. The residents claimed the police came into the community and

began questioning some persons.

 The police officers allegedly also asked Jackson if he was the

operator of a cook shop as he passed them with a rubbish bin that he

had just emptied. “Dem say ‘youth, a you run that cook shop’ and him

say yes. He is not a man of many words. So if you have that civil

exchange with my brother it shouldn’t lead to murder,” Jackson said. 

The angry residents claimed that a single policeman followed Jackson

inside his shop and soon after, two loud explosions were heard. “The

doctor at the hospital told us that the first shot crippled him. He was

shot in the back,” Jackson related. A man, who identified himself as

Jackson’s cousin, alleged that the policeman who fired the fatal shots

was observed running from the premises and towards a police vehicle.

“He came back with a black bag and soon after they said they found a

gun.

 We ask them to show we the gun and all now them can’t show we no gun,”

the man claimed. A trail of dried blood was seen leading from the

entrance of the cook shop. “Them drag him like a dog,” one woman said.

The residents also claimed that the police officer who was involved in

the fatal shooting was known to the dead man and had even eaten at his

cook shop on several occasions.

 “Him eat at the shop already..,” one resident said. Jackson’s death

seemed to have hit a raw nerve of some members of the constabulary,

whom residents claimed came to the scene and cried openly on Monday.

 “Nakiea did have whole heap a police friend. This killing nuh look

right,” one cop was overheard telling a colleague. The Independent

Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) is probing the incident and has

since interviewed the officers involved and served them notice to hand

over statements.

 Under the INDECOM rules, officers involved in fatal shootings must

give statements no later than 10 hours after the incident. So far, 14

people have been killed by the police this year.