The suspected robber who was shot in the thigh by the police at Plaisance, East Coast Demerara on Thursday died early yesterday morning at the Georgetown Hospital after undergoing surgery.
“De police had no right to shoot at he. If he was a criminal he wouldn’t ah run down the road fuh police ketch he, he woulda run though yard to get away,” the angry relatives of Rafael Jordan, 21, said yesterday, denying that the man was a criminal. Police shot Jordan while pursuing him, saying he was identified as a cutlass wielding bandit by a teenaged victim.
When Stabroek News visited the Lot 92 Princess William Street address where Jordon was staying with relatives, a black flag was nailed on the fence.
Jordan’s grandmother, who did not want her name published, recounted that following the shooting they (relatives) were told that Jordon and two others were sitting at a shop near Victoria Street when a police vehicle pulled up. She said that from reports, her grandson got up and walked away before starting to run. She said that she is unaware of why he ran but a rank went down on the road way and shot at him.
According to her, persons related that when he first started to run, police pursued in the vehicle before it stopped and the police rank who fired the shot that hit him came out. The man’s relatives questioned why the police did not continue pursuing him in their vehicle instead of stopping and firing shots, one of which severely damaged one of his legs. They said that the ranks could have taken another route and ended up “face to face” with him. They claimed that Jordon could not have committed the crime he was accused of, since he was home, washing and cleaning all morning. He left minutes before the shooting for a nearby shop to purchase cigarettes, they said.
Asked about allegations that he was involved in criminal activities within the community, relatives denied this saying that Jordan, whom they described as “a child that still got he motha features,” had returned from Barbados last November. They said an allegation made that he robbed a man of $150, 000 on November 16 last could not have been true because he returned to the country in the later part of that month.
One relative said that when that robbery victim made the allegation at the hospital, Jordan’s sister produced his passport, showing the date he arrived in the country and it was at this point after also seeing his picture that the man said he had made a mistake.
This newspaper indicated to them that police had said in a release that he was one of two persons who had robbed the man at gunpoint of the cash but they insisted that that was not true.
“De man at the hospital said, ‘oh shucks, is not he.’ So I ain’t see how the police could say that,” one woman said angrily.
The relatives stated that at the hospital the police were reluctant to give them information on Jordan’s condition but the Divisional Commander Balram Persaud told this newspaper that it was the relatives who were reluctant to divulge information to the police.
One woman said that the bullet left a gaping wound at the back of Jordan’s knee and the doctor had indicated to them that the leg would have to be amputated.
The group of upset relatives said that from all indications the young man bled to death and they blamed it on the police. “They should have taken him to the hospital quickly,” one relative said stating that they don’t know if the ranks “drove him around” before reaching the institution. “We accustomed to them (police) shooting people children and nothing will come out of it,” one of them told Stabroek News.
A senior police officer said that Jordan returned to the community from Barbados late last year and began committing crimes. Several residents have also said that he was a part of a gang that has been wrecking havoc in the village over the last two weeks.
