By Omar Anderson, Staff Reporter 
GALFORD THOMPSON, a Braeton resident living opposite Lot 1088 Fifth Seal Way in the St. Catherine community, testified on Monday of seeing policemen dashing for cover on March 14, last year, moments after they'd knocked several times on the front door of Lot 1088 and identified themselves.
Lot 1088 is the site of the killing of seven young men by the police last March.
When examined by Carrington Mahoney, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Thompson, popularly known as "Mr. Corpie", told the court that he has been living at Lot 1098 Fifth Seal Way since 1978. He said Lot 1088 is owned by a man he knew only as "Dragon", who migrated to Canada three years ago.
He said up to March 13, last year, Christopher Grant, 17, lived at Lot 1088 Fifth Seal Way for more than a year. The welder/contractor testified that "Spaceman", another victim whose right name is Curtis Smith, 20, also lived at the house with Grant for more than a year.
Thompson said no one else lived at Lot 1088 but friends of the two occupants occasionally visited the house and played dominoes. Recounting events leading to the killing of the seven young men that morning, the witness said he was awake in bed at about 4:30 a.m. on March 14. He said his bedroom is to the right of Lot 1088. While in his bed, Thompson told Coroner Lorna Errar-Gayle and the 12-member jury that he heard footsteps on Fifth Seal Way, but thought cows were walking on the pathway, as several of them had eaten portion of a hedging at Lot 1088 the previous night.
According to the witness, he then heard the gate at Lot 1088 open and he heard a faint knocking on a door coming from that direction. He testified that the knocking became louder then he heard more than once, someone shouting, "open up, open up, police." Thompson said the knocking became louder. He said he got up out of his bed and looked through his glass window and saw the pathway. He said, however, he was unable to see very clearly in Lot 1088 because the hedging at the front of the house obscured his view.
He said when he looked outside he saw a man standing in front of his window by a tree, on Fifth Seal Way. He said other persons were standing further on the pathway, closer to a wall at Lot 1088. He said these men appeared to be police as they were all dressed in dark clothes.
Thompson told the court that somebody then passed his window and went by Lot 1088 and said "get flat". He said he then heard two gunshots sounding as if they were coming from Lot 1088. The witness said as soon as he heard "get flat", he ducked for cover after policeman standing on Fifth Seal Way also sought cover beside a fence.
The witness said after he got flat, he heard a lot of gunfire coming from Lot 1088, lasting for about 10 minutes or more. He said he remained flat for fear of bullets flying through his window. He said while the shots were being fired, he heard a male voice coming from Lot 1088 calling: "Breda Carpie, help me nuh." He said he thought it was Smith or "Gallus", who is Andre Virgo, 20. He said both men had coarse voices.
He said after hearing the voice calling him, the shots continued for between two and three minutes. He said he didn't hear the voice after the firing stopped. He said during the two to three minutes of gunfire, his car alarm went off and he turned if off while on the ground in his room.
Thompson further testified that he heard another round of shots lasting roughly four minutes. He said his car alarm went off again and he turned it off. He said he later heard something being driven down Fifth Seal Way. He said he peeped through his window and saw about three police jeeps. He said he saw policemen taking out two men from out of the house and bringing them to the jeep. The witness said the two men were first laid on the pathway before being put in the jeep. He said one of the two men was Virgo. He said he knew the other person but couldn't remember his name yesterday.
The contractor, otherwise called "Jerkie", told the court he later saw policemen place Grant inside a third jeep parked behind another jeep near his window. Thompson said Grant's face was blown off. He said he moved from his window about 5:30 a.m. or towards 6 a.m. Fifteen minutes later, Thompson said he heard the jeeps being driven away. Nervous, he said he showered then went outside his gate minutes to 6 a.m. There, Thompson testified that a policeman approached him and told him to return inside his house as the police were about to remove a body from Lot 1088 and they didn't want Thompson's 12-year-old daughter to witness it.
He said the police then moved the body of a man with plaited hair. He said this person usually greeted him. He said a policeman wearing a sweat suit later approached him with several guns then remarked: "Yu see what a gwaan before yuh yard." The witness said the policeman later told him one of the guns was used to shoot a police constable at Above Rocks Police Station in St. Catherine. When Thompson asked him how he knew that, he said the policeman replied that the serial number on the gun indicated that the weapon belonged to the policeman. Thompson said he later returned inside his house.
Under examination by attorney-at-law Maurice Saunders, who is representing the family of Dane Whyte, 19, Thompson testified that he saw Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Reneto Adams on the morning of March 14 talking with a fair-skinned woman dressed in a dark jacket and skirt. He said he later heard the SSP speaking on the telephone. The witness added that he saw CVM reporter Michael Pryce the morning, after he came outside his house at about 7 a.m. He said he doesn't know if Pryce had been on the pathway before.
When cross-examined by attorney-at-law Dennis Daly, Q.C., who is representing the family of 15-year-old Ronald Beckford, Thompson reiterated that he heard gunfire before and after he heard a voice calling "Breda Carpie". He said he used to see the seven men inside the housing scheme, a few of them occasionally riding bicycles. He added that Grant and Smith usually helped his wife unload her market goods. He said he was shocked to hear that the seven men were involved in criminal activities, and that he would never have invited them to his house if he had known.
Under cross-examination by Carolyn Reid, one of the lawyers representing the police, the witness testified of hearing heavier and lighter gunfire in response to the two he first heard at 4:30 a.m. Thompson said yesterday he was unable to say who fired the first two shots he heard, but he testified that he saw a number of policeman lying on the ground near a wall at Lot 1088 after the two shots were fired. The witness said the police first took Virgo out of Lot 1088. Thompson said he went into the yard of Lot 1088 a month after the event. He said he still hasn't gone inside the house.
When cross-examined by attorney-at-law Michael Lorne, who is representing Grant's family, the witness said he ducked for cover so he was unable to say exactly whether there were more than two policemen who ducked for cover.
The Inquest continues on Thursday.
