KINGSTON, Jamaica — The uncle of the Lawrence Tavern resident who was shot and killed by police during an operation last Friday says he is just seeking to clear his nephew’s name.

According to Camburt Thomas, his nephew Andrew Richards is an innocent man who was wrongfully killed by the police.

He is one of many who are currently protesting last Friday’s fatal shooting of the 39-year-old. The residents insist that Richards was murdered in cold blood and a weapon planted on him by the police.

(Photo: Ramon Thompson)

“The police need to do a better job and stop killing people pickney and put guns on them. That’s not right. That’s not right. They do that to escape and I don’t like that. You can’t kill an innocent man and put a gun on him. It’s not right. You’re corrupt, you’re messing up the man’s name,” Thomas shared with Observer Online.

Noting that Richards may not get justice, his uncle said he only hopes to clear his nephew’s name.

“I want Andrew name to clear, just the name, he’s dead already and can’t come back. And even if we don’t get justice, I just want the Jamaican people to know — it’s just the gun part I want to come off his name. The murderer part I want to come off his name. Just that,” the uncle cried.

Andrew Richards was fatally shot by police during an operation in Lawrence Tavern, St Andrew last Friday.

Describing his nephew as a cowardly man, Thomas recalled the moment he heard Richards get shot.

“I heard the shots and I heard when Andrew bawl out one time and I didn’t hear him again but I didn’t know that they shoot him because him so coward, I thought is frighten him frighten and I heard his girlfriend start bawl but I still didn’t know is shoot they shoot him because I cracked my window and see the police outside,” he said.

“I knew the police were going to come to Tavern Gully one day because the youth them not behaving themselves round here but Andrew just got caught up in it. The wrong man got caught up in it,” Thomas continued.

Likewise, another relative labelled Richards as an innocent man. Recounting the incident, she told Observer Online that Richards had been very cooperative with the police.

“He’s an innocent person. The police came into his house in the early morning. He heard the grill. He went out there and said, ‘a who that?’ They said police, he opened the door. They never had to kick it in. They never had to force entry. He opened the door, he let them in the house. They said they needed to do a search. He turned on the lights, let them inside. He sat on the bed and they said to him, they need to conduct a search. They said they were going to the kitchen first,” she recalled.

She alleged that upon offering to take the officers to the kitchen, they declined and requested his girlfriend’s assistance instead.

“She got up to go in there. Before she could even go in the kitchen, they shot him. She turned around same time, he held on to his side. They shot him to kill him. They had him there bleeding out. From we hear the shot, from the time they dragged away his body — that was more than half an hour — they had him there bleeding out. She was crying, asking them to rush him to the hospital. They left him there,” she shared.

“They left him for dead. Forensic has not seen his body on the crime scene. His body was dragged away by them. Indecom (the Independent Commission of Investigations) has not seen his body on the crime scene. They tampered with their own crime scene. They went on the news and said he was a criminal. He’s not a criminal. Andrew is a hard working person,” she said.

The relatives claimed that the police also removed CCTV footage from the house of the deceased and took his phone.

READ: Protest underway for Lawrence Tavern resident killed in police operation