Child dies from cop's bullet
Angry residents block roads
published: Saturday | July 26, 2003

At right is Lyons. Minister of Local Government, Community Development and Sport, Portia Simpson Miller (left), listens to one of her constituents explaining how 10-year-old Rennay Lyons was shot and killed yesterday in the Majesty Gardens area of the constituency (St. Andrew South West). The shooting triggered a demonstration by residents against police brutality. -Carlington Wilmot photo

Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter

A 10-YEAR-OLD girl, Ren-nay Lyons, died in the Kingston Public Hos-pital (KPH) yesterday after a bullet fired by a policeman at a fleeing ganja smoker smashed into her skull.

The shooting triggered demonstrations by hundreds of angry residents from the area who mounted a massive roadblock on the dual carriage way along Spanish Town Road, about 200-metres west of the Portia Simpson Square.

The residents burned debris in the roadway and threw stones at the lawmen who eventually used teargas to disperse the angry mob. The chaotic situation forced the diversion of traffic to other routes.

Acting Commissioner of Police, Jevene Bent, has since instructed that the policemen involved in the shooting be removed from frontline duties.

Their hands have been swabbed and the firearms used in the incident taken in for ballistic testing.

One resident, who claimed she saw what happen, explained that the police were chasing a man with a ganja spliff. They were being outrun by the man when, suddenly, several explosions were heard. One of the bullets struck Rennay in the head, she collapsed to the ground and was pronounced dead at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) where she was taken for treatment.

"I will leave no stone unturn in this one," Minister of Local Government, Community Development and Sport, Portia Simpson Miller, who is also the Member of Parliament for the area, told The Gleaner.

Speaking at a meeting held in the community yesterday, with members of the security forces and the residents, Mrs. Simpson Miller demanded an explanation from the police. "How many more will have to die and how many more will have to suffer?" She asked.

The Minister said she was very upset with what happened and further stressed that, in her lifetime, as Member of Parliament, she has seen, "too much innocent blood pave the ground.

"My duty is to see that justice is done in this instance," were the words of Superintendent Claude Samuels, Commanding Officer for the Hunts Bay police area.

He assured the residents that the matter will be thoroughly investigated. The Bureau of Special Investigations(BSI) has begun probing the shooting.