RESIDENTS from the Crescent Road community yesterday staged another road block along Spanish Town Road to protest against the killing of Nicole Barrett, who was shot dead the previous day inside the community.

The residents, who alleged that Barrett was shot by the police, have vowed to continue blocking the busy main road until they get “justice”.

Yesterday, Barrett’s mother, who gave her name only as Annette, claimed she saw a policeman shoot her daughter in the back.

“She did sit down pon a chair in front of her yard, and mi ask her fi go a di shop. When she a come back, mi hear a whole heap a gun shot up di lane, and mi si di police shot her inna her back,” the woman told the Observer.

“She nuh live nuh life yet. She a just 22,” she cried. She was too weak to sit upright, and had to lean on a neighbour for support.

Gregory Smith, the father of Nicole’s child, also alleged that she was killed by the police.

“Yes, is them (police) shoot her – right inna her back. Dem tek whe mi yout’ madda from mi and she never do dem nothing,” Smith said.

On Monday, Deputy Superintendent Oswald C Ayre told the Observer that Barrett was killed during a gunbattle between the police and members of the “Whap Dem” gang.

He said the police had gone to Spanish Town Road because of reports that members of the “Whap Dem” gang – whose members live on Bowens Road – were about to attack members of the “Rat Bat” gang, who are based on neighbouring Crescent Road.

But Nicole’s mother, boyfriend and Crescent Road residents insisted yesterday that the police’s version of the shooting was wrong.

In addition, residents from both Crescent Road – where members of the “Rat Bat” gang live – and Bowens Road -where the “Whap Dem” gang members live – said there had been no war in the area since February this year when they signed a truce.

In fact, the residents said that every Sunday they hold a peace dance, called “Unity Sunday”, and that members of both gangs attend the dances.

A number of Jamaican artistes, such as Tony Rebel, Luciano and Queen Ifrica and Italee, have performed at these street dances, the residents said, adding that the young people in the community saw these performers as good mentors.

Crescent Road residents also said that at the time of the shooting, several people, including women and children, were on the road. This, they argued, would not have been the case had there been a war brewing between the two gangs.

The residents also displayed several spent shells that they said the police left behind after Monday’s shooting.

Yesterday, they demanded that member of parliament for the area, Portia Simpson Miller, meet with them and try to ease the tension between them and the police.