WESTERN BUREAU:
ANGRY RESIDENTS of Greenpond, St. James, where Samantha Brissett, 16, was shot and killed Friday in an alleged shootout with police and youth from the community, took to the streets yesterday demanding action against what they called police injustice.
Residents claimed that the police fabricated the shootout story, which resulted in young Brissett's death.
Police reported Friday that they responded to a robbery report at the Green Pond Primary and Junior High School. They said they were greeted by gunfire on their arrival and a gun battle ensued. Brissett, the niece of the school's principal, Samuel Reid, who was at home in the principal's cottage next door to the school, was found with a gunshot wound to the head after the shooting subsided.
UNDER THREAT
She was taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital on Friday night and died early Saturday morning, her family said.
Yesterday, the family told The Gleaner that they came under threat during the demonstration as residents claimed that Mr. Reid had given misleading information to the press. Residents admitted that young men were on the school's compound but insisted that they were not involved in a robbery. They said it was a regular 'hang out spot' for the young men.
Following yesterday's demonstrations, the police said they collected statements from a number of resident. One youth, 17-year-old Craig Harvey, who was reportedly shot by the police on Friday night, is still in hospital.
