Violence erupts in John John as police kill gunman

Anger in Laventille

Police shot and killed a 23-year-old man in Hill View, John John, Laventille Tuesday. They say the mana fired on them first and they returned fire, killing Nigel "Black Boy" Caesar.

The incident provoked anger within the community. Residents threw pieces of wood, old appliances and other debris over the wall of the John John panyard, onto the Easter Main Road, Laventille and they hurled obscenities at the police, local media reported.

Caesar was a apainter who worked for the Housing Development Corporation (HDC), paitning buildings on Old St Joseph Road. Residents dispute the police story and say Caesar was walking down a flight of stairs when police shot him.

Media reports quote neighbours as saying that when the man fell one officer ordered his colleague to shoot Caesar again, following which the officers "pick him up like a dog and throw him in the back of a jeep".

The police story, according to media reports, is quite different. The reports say police reported that they were on patrol when Caesar fired on them and they returned fire. Caesar was hit and taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Police said the man had a gun but his sister disputed that. "He was no saint; he was a gunman, but he didn't deserve to dead like that. He had no gun on him. ...He was a nice, loving person who would give his last to anybody."

One relative quoted in the media admitted that Caesar was "in war" and added that he would have preferred another kind of death for the young man. "I didn't mind if gunman did kill him."