I WANT TO SURRENDER

KILLED: PC Clarence Gilkes

THE man who is suspected of shooting PC Clarence Gilkes to death at Rich Plain Road, Diego Martin, is prepared to surrender himself to police.

But at the same time, the 29-year-old suspect is fearful of being brutalised by officers and slapped with a charge for an offence he said he did not commit.

Until a proper and thorough autopsy is carried out on the body of Gilkes and the findings handed over to the Police Complaints Authority (PCA), Jehlano Romney said he will remain hesitant of handing himself over to detectives.

A voice recording surfaced on social media yesterday in which Romney reached out to his attorney, Criston J Williams, expressing his concern over the situation.

Contacted yesterday, Williams confirmed the voice on the recording was that of his client. The attorney also confirmed Romney "will gladly give himself up to clear his name, but on the contrary we also know the system we have here".

In the recording, Romney gave an account of what he said had actually transpired in the minutes and seconds leading up to Gilkes being shot last Friday.

Romney claimed he was not the shooter, as is being claimed by officers, but was instead shot at by the officers when one of their own bullets struck Gilkes to the neck. Gilkes later died at the St James Hospital.

Incident recounted

Romney related his side of events.

"On Friday 22nd April, I had just left my two kids home with my cousin-in-law. I came down the hill and while coming down the hill, I was going by the shop to buy something to cook. It was around after one or two o’clock. While doing so I ran into four police officers.

"The first officer that approached me, he was about three feet away from me. He say ‘aye don't move’ and as he say don't move I put my hand in the air one time. I say ‘boss don't shoot I have nothing’. In those same exact words I say ‘boss don't shoot, I have nothing’.

"He say ‘hush yuh mouth, doh move’ and as he said that, the colleague to his left who was coming up the stairs started shooting without hesitation. He just started shooting," said Romney.

At that point, Romney said the first officer who approached him also began shooting along with a WPC who was standing behind her colleagues.

He said it was only after Gilkes was shot did the officer who first began firing drop his firearm.

"His colleague turned and said, ‘aye yuh hit meh’. That is the last thing I heard ‘aye yuh hit meh’. After that I started running. I realise that this was my little escape here because they trying to kill me for no reason. When I look back, the same police officer who began shooting, he is picking up shells while the other officer is checking the colleague. I ran for my life knowing they are trying to kill me for so long," Romney stated.

Residents: Cop shot by one of his own

Romney stated he believed he was targeted by the officers since he had filed a lawsuit against the State for wrongful arrest some time ago in which officers of the Western Division, where Gilkes was last stationed, were involved.

That lawsuit was to come up for hearing on May 5, he stated.

Since the incident, residents in the area also maintained that Gilkes was shot by one of his own.

Acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob, however, has rubbished those claims. At that time, he said the claim of "friendly fire" by the residents was hogwash.

He stated 12 officers from the Western Division Task Force had gone to the location and while approaching some steps leading to the hills overlooking Rich Plain Road, they came under fire.

At the time, the officers were responding to a report of several men in the area being seen with high-powered rifles.

"That is a lot of hogwash in relation to the circumstances in which the incident happened. Our investigators will look at all angles, but the officers who were present had given how everything had occurred and it is amazing to know other persons were present," he stated.

The acting Commissioner went on to add the Police Service was looking forward to those residents who claimed to have witnessed what had taken place to give statements to the Homicide Bureau "because sitting some distance away and making statements where something occurred within a secluded area on the steps heading up into the hills, it is amazing it would be seen and now want to talk about friendly fire. Our officer was shot in his neck from the front and we talking about friendly fire?... this is what we talking about?

"We have to get serious in this country in relation to this as we are constantly giving merit to persons who are involved in activities in our land," he said.

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