A 15 year old teenager on holiday from the United States of America was shot and injured during an operation by the security forces in Seaview Gardens in Kingston yesterday.
The teenager, whose name is Jahmari Johnson, is an honor roll student and an aspiring footballer who lives in Bronx, New York. He was shot in the leg, and later hospitalised at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH).
Mr. Howard Johnson, the father of the young man, is upset that his unarmed son was almost killed by the security forces in a nightmarish scenario that would have kept any parent up at nights.
“Jahmari told me he went to the shop to buy bag juice and when he heard the shots, he began running to his house to safety, then the police fire two shots in the air and say freeze. He stopped and when he turned around, the police shot him and run down on him to finish him off and he had to cry out…and when dem see the bag juice scatter on the ground, ah that saved him,” the father of four said.
Mr. Johnson said he would never have imagined that such a scenario could have played out with his son.
“This is exactly the reason I took him from Seaview. All my kids migrated in 2016, this ah his second trip back to Jamaica since that cause he wanted to see his mother. The police dem traumatize mi family, mi little daughter who go down with him to Jamaica afraid to go outside right now. I might have to get counseling for her,” he said.
He is demanding a full and thorough investigation.
“ We want to know if is a soldier or a police do it because mi ah hear conflicting stories, we don’t want this to be covered up,” he said.
The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) has begun investigating the shooting injury.
The full circumstances regarding the shooting and injury are being determined by the Commission’s investigation.
The Security Forces report an engagement with at least one (possibly two males) one of whom is reported as allegedly pointing a firearm at the members of the Security Forces. It is reported that of the responding officers, no JDF officer fired their weapon but one JCF officer fired his weapon during the incident.
The 15 year old boy was conveyed to the hospital with a gunshot injury to his leg. No weapon was reported to INDECOM Investigators as being recovered from the scene or the injured boy. INDECOM urges the cooperation of persons who may have witnessed the incident to share any information, photos or video footage to the Commission’s Whatsapp line at (876)553-5555.
Claude Mills
