Residents protest police fatal shooting in Montpellier, Hanover

  

Chants for justice rang out from a section of the Montego Bay to Negril main road on Wednesday morning, as residents protested against a police fatal shooting on the weekend.

 

It's reported that about 1 p.m. last Saturday, 20-year-old Adedra Vidol, a resident of Hell Gate in Montpellier, Hanover, was fatally shot during a confrontation with a police team in his community.

 

A Glock pistol with a magazine containing five rounds was reportedly taken from him.

 

But residents from Montpellier, who argue that the incident was unwarranted, are upset about the lack of information from the Independent Commission of Investigations and the police.

 

A resident, Audrey Irvin, is among several people refuting the police's account of the incident. 

 

"Police come, knock on the grille, and him come and open the grille. Once him open the grille, the police just push him in, push him inna di room and just shot him. The police say dat him draw gun at them... [but] how you gonna draw gun and a you open the grille let in the police? If you did have gun, you wouldn't open di grille, you woulda let dem pop off di grille come in," the woman reasoned. 

 

She said a single explosion was heard, after which the police "drag him, put him inna di jeep. Two of dem gone with him, and from dem gone with him, wi nuh hear nut'n. Nobody come to talk to us."

 

Ms. Irvin said INDECOM visited the area on Saturday and had promised to return to survey CCTV footage; a commitment it has yet to fulfill. 

 

Deputy Superintendent Angela McIntosh Gayle, who is in charge of Operations in Hanover, sought to assure residents that the authorities are probing the matter.

 

She also urged the angry residents to refrain from blocking the thoroughfare.

 

Debris was set ablaze, and several logs were spread across the road.

 

DSP McIntosh Gayle said this is a breach of the law. 

 

"A loss of life is not something that we glorify, but when it [does] happen, we take the necessary steps to ensure that justice is served. So whatever they deem justice to be, we are already embarking on that. And so, we ask the community to desist from what they are doing, because it is also a breach of the National Solid Waste Act, and so, persons can be charged. But as not to stir up any problem now, we are aware of who are involved, but we are dealing with it at a different point," she said.