The teenaged boy who was shot by police during Sunday’s search for ‘Cobra’ said yesterday that the policeman who discharged the rounds which struck him had arrested him recently and knew he was not the wanted man.
Seventeen-year-old Osafie Johnson yesterday said the policeman was among a group of others chasing him and knew that he was not the wanted Tyrone ‘Cobra’ Rowe.
When Stabroek News arrived at the High Dependency Unit of the Georgetown Hospital just after lunch yesterday a still traumatized Johnson was being tended to by his mother. The uniformed rank who was assigned to guard him was sitting outside the unit.
The youth was overheard asking his mother to find out when the bullet (from his back) and a tube in his side would be removed. He later told this newspaper that he doesn’t want to be hospitalized for three or four months and insisted that he has done nothing wrong. The teen is also receiving oxygen and he said that he was also shot in his foot.
Despite his distress, he managed to say that recently he had been arrested but did not say when or what for. This newspaper has since learnt that it was during a raid for `Cobra’.
He said that the policeman who shot him was present then and knew who he was. “The same police who shot me, arrested me before so it can’t be a case of mistaken identity,” Johnson stressed.
Glancing several times at his mother, Johnson said he did not know who `Cobra’ was until the name was mentioned in the news recently.
The young man said that he is not a criminal and should not be treated like one or be under police guard.
During another visit yesterday to the East Ruimveldt area where the 3 pm incident occurred, things appeared calm, but some young boys who were gathered on a bridge were reprimanded for being there.
“Why y’all deh liming on the road? Y’all should deh in y’all house… Look wha happen yesterday. Y’all ain’t learning?” a resident asked the group of boys who paid him very little attention.
Another resident recalled that after hearing the gunfire, he noticed about six or seven police officers, including a female running behind Johnson. He said it appeared to him that the youth was trying to get to the safety of his Lot 707 home as he turned and ran in that direction. According to the resident, the police officers, some of whom were in civilian clothing, were shooting at Johnson. He stressed that the teen had nothing in his hand while he was being pursued.
Former footballer, Dexter Bentick, 32, who was shot during the episode, said yesterday that he was treated at the hospital and discharged. He showed this newspaper, a bandaged wound just above the navel and a bullet graze on his left arm.
When asked what action he planned to take, he said he was told to report to the Brickdam Police Station today and after that he will decide what needs to be done. Bentick added that the police had collected the jersey he was wearing at the time of the incident. He added that the entire ordeal has left him traumatized “cause ah din expect he [the policeman] fuh shoot me”.
The man added that the actions of the police were very unprofessional as many young children were usually playing on the road where the gunfire erupted. He said that one of them or other people passing the area at the time could have been seriously hurt.
Bentick, like the other residents this newspaper spoke with, said he did not know who `Cobra’ was.
Police had said in a release hours after the incident, that ranks of a police anti-crime patrol, acting on information received, confronted the wanted man and a group of five other men who were on the roadway at East Ruimveldt Front Road, Georgetown.
On seeing the police, ‘Cobra’ and two of the men began running, one of whom opened fire on the police, the release said, adding that the ranks returned fire during which Johnson was shot and injured to his upper left shoulder and left foot.
A 9 mm Beretta pistol with three matching rounds was found in his possession, the release said. Two of the group were arrested by the police, however ‘Cobra’ and two others managed to escape. Stabroek News was unable to ascertain at press time last evening, if the two men were still in police custody.
The release had further stated that Bentick of East Ruimveldt Squatting area, who was in the vicinity at the time of the exchange of gunfire between the police and the men, sustained a graze wound to his abdomen.
The police have said that `Cobra’ is wanted for gun crimes committed in the city and despite efforts by this newspaper yesterday, police could not be reached for more information on these allegations.
Following the murder of his brother, Jamal ‘Radio’ Beete recently, relatives identified the wanted man as 17-year-old Tyrone Rowe.
Though he is wanted, a bulletin for his arrest has never been released.
