Emotions ran high when family members and friends of the four persons who were slain by members of the Crime Management Unit (CMU), in the sleepy district of Crawle, Clarendon gathered to commemorate the anniversary of their deaths on Friday, May 7.

“Not until the police kill a big man son, then them going to realise the police are the real criminals,” Ann Marie Smith, a cousin of one of the dead, Kirk Gordon, said as she paid tribute to the memory of the slain persons.

Gordon, along with Lewena “Ferris” Thompson, 44; Angela Richards, 39; and Matthew “Renegade” James, were killed after an eight-member team from the CMU went into the district to flush out a gang led by wanted fugitive Bashington “Chen Chen” Douglas, whom they allege ran a massive extortion ring in Clarendon.

Police claimed they came under fire as they approached a house in the area and returned the fire. After the shooting ended, the four were found with gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead at hospital. Police also said a Winchester rifle and a Taurus pistol with several rounds of ammunition were found in the house.

Most persons who attended the memorial seemed to be suffering from the effects of the tragedy and tears flowed freely inside the small wooden church and at the death yard where a number of other persons had gathered.

Alberta Thompson, sister of Lewena, broke down in tears after the service and had to be supported by a male friend.

Orville, a soft-spoken farmer from Crawle, was visibly close to tears. “Every time I think about it, tears come to my heart,” Orville told the Sunday Observer.

Yvonne Sobers, head of the lobby group, Families Against State Terrorism (FAST), praised the residents of Crawle for their courage and tried to find a positive in their grief.

“Crawle has changed the way investigations are carried out,” Sobers said in her address. “Out of Crawle, the CMU was disbanded and a senior superintendent of police arrested and charged. This is the community which is about to symbolise justice”.

Sobers was among persons, including residents of Crawle, human rights groups and member of parliament, Pearnel Charles, who accused the CMU of killing the four in cold blood, and called for a thorough investigation of the incident.

The CMU was soon after disbanded by Police Commissioner Francis Forbes and the squad’s head, Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams, relegated to a desk job at the Mobile Reserve headquarters. Forbes subsequently called for investigators from Scotland Yard to assist local cops from the Special Bureau of Investigations with collecting forensic evidence from the death house.

Arising out of a ruling by Kent Pantry, director of public prosecutions, Adams and five other members of his crew, Devon Bernard; Latrid Gordon; Roderick Collier; Shane Lyons; and Patrick Coke were arrested and charged in April with four counts of non-capital murder each.

When they appeared in court, government prosecutor, Paula Llewelyn, pointed to evidence that the officers involved in the Crawle killings planted a spent Winchester cartridge at the death scene.

The dead were honoured through musical tributes and the spoken word in a three-hour church service at the New Holiness Church of God.

After the service, a small crowd, made up mostly of residents of Crawle, Pennants and other surrounding districts, converged on the death house and shared food and drink. Charles, for whom one of the deceased, Angela Richards, did political work, was also present.

A monument in honour of the lives of the four victims of the Crawle killings has been erected at the entrance to the yard where the killings took place a year ago.

“We will be keeping this vigil every year to remind the world of the injustice that took place here,” Vinton James explained.