Paul’s lot residents want return of 24 hour police presence

Residents of Paul’s Avenue are again calling for the return of 24-hour police presence in the Central Kingstown community that has been plagued by mass shootings and deaths for some time now.

“Despite what people may think, the majority of residents that live here are law-abiding, hard-working people,” a resident there told SEARCHLIGHT on the weekend. A similar call was made in July, and this one came one week after the September 13, 2024 shooting of Jawanza “Sanga” Fraser who died at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital less than two hours after he was shot in a shop in Paul’s Avenue. Two other persons were grazed by gunshots.

Back in July, Palesa “Midget” Bynoe, one of six persons shot in Paul’s Avenue on Friday, July 19, 2024, had called for the return of a 24-hour police presence.

Bynoe and five of her friends were shot by two gunmen who emerged from a red car in the vicinity of the Gaymes Book Store in Paul’s Avenue at midnight on July 19.

The 24/7 stationing of the police in crime hot-spot communities was adopted last year; Paul’s Avenue was among those communities.

Bynoe, who was shot in three places, one bullet fracturing her right arm, said then that for some reason, the police presence had been removed.

Speaking over the weekend, a resident said in an attempt to protect themselves, when it gets dark, persons have been using different items to prevent vehicles from driving into the area.

“The roads are blocked using different things, because people are scared, but the police came and locked up two men for blocking the road and told us to stop blocking the road,” the resident said.

The woman also alleges that one police officer said that blocking the road will not save certain men that frequent the area from getting shot and killed and they were wasting time by blocking the road.

“They moved the police and now men getting locked up for blocking the road. Is like they want people to continue getting shot in here. We have no other way of protecting ourselves and we not involved in criminal activity,” the resident said.

Blocking the road is a criminal offence here, but some residents in the community say this is the only way they can stop the drive-by shootings that have wounded and killed people, most of whom they claim, are innocent bystanders.

Another resident said it is evident that the police presence is an effective crime fighting tool, as there were no shootings when the police were there, and the shootings resumed when they left.

“One man was picked up over the weekend and dropped off in Bottom Town by police,” the resident alleged, claiming that Paul’s Avenue residents are the most harassed in the country even though the criminal activity is being carried out by persons who are not from Paul’s Avenue, and who do not live in the area.

On Monday, September 24, 2024, Commissioner of Police (COP) Enville Williams said the police presence in the area has not been removed, but it is no longer 24-hours a day.

He said police resources have been redistributed for many reasons, one of them being the passage of Hurricane Beryl on July 1.

“The daylight police presence is back in Paul’s Lot, and as times goes on you would have to reassess deployment, but the presence was not altogether removed.”

In 2018, four persons were shot in the community around midnight One of them, Len “president” Stowe, said to be originally from Bequia, died from his injuries.

Injured in the incident were residents of the area Erel “Boatie” Hector, 18; Farax “Spragga” Prescott, 40; and Dino King 48. This shooting took place in the same area where Jawanza “Sanga” Fraser was shot five times in October, 2017.

Another mass shooting took place on Friday, December 23, 2022, when Fraser was shot once again, and another resident, Omo Simmons, was hit in his foot at around 8:52 p.m. when two gunmen emerged from a white Nissan Tiida and opened fire on a group of men.

Between December December 23 and December 26, 2022, there were three shootings in the area resulting in one death, the Boxing Day murder where a lone gunman chased Ottley Hall resident, Mikhail Charles and shot him at least three times.

Other shootings in the area include that of Naphtali Diaz in May, 2013; Nyanga “Namsy” Sam in August, 2019; Curtis “Lopez” Mc Fee in May, 2021; Austin Elson Gloster, also known as “Bagga” on October 17, 2020; and Ramon “Carpie” Thomas in August, 2021.