‘Him is no don!’

“Him is no don! Him is no don! Him is a peacemaker!” a niece of Emeilo Morris shouted while she, other women and children protested along Maxfield Avenue in St Andrew on Friday, decrying what they say was a cold-blooded murder by police officers.

The woman, who other protesters addressed by her alias, insisted that her uncle was first shot in the Maxfield area around 11:24 on Thursday night and handcuffed and taken away alive by cops.

She added that she and others went into a car and began trailing the cops, but the police officers intercepted them and hit their vehicle, causing them to stop.

“Dem start push gun to the car. We affi go in front a dem,” she said.

The woman said that when the group got to the Kingston Public Hospital, Morris was dead and his hands were not handcuffed.

She rejected claims that Morris, who was also known by the alias ‘Papa Stinga’, was a don.

“A him mek di party dem and everything a gwaan! A him cry peace! A him mek di man dem nah war ‘cause when dem seh ‘war’, him seh ‘peace’!” Apple said.

Another of Morris’ nieces, whose father was murdered in 2010 in the Maxfield community, alleged that the police had hit her uncle in his head with a gun.

“Him nuh dead when him go in a di jeep! Dem bring him weh go kill him. When people did a go up in a di jeep, dem [the police] did a pepper-spray!” she shouted during the protest.

An alleged eyewitness, who lives along Ramsay Road, told The Gleaner that Morris, whom some of the residents affectionately called ‘Daddy’, was standing on the sidewalk with another person along Maxfield Avenue when the police officers first accosted him with their vehicle lights dimmed.

“They grab him. He was crying for ‘Help! Murder!’ and he was even telling them that ‘A mi babymother mi a go to!’ Him a beg somebody fi go call him babymother. ... Him a cry out a seh ‘Dem a kill mi! Dem a kill mi!’ After that, we hear one shot ... and they went away with him,” she said.

Superintendent Michael Phipps said Morris, who is also known as ‘Daddy One’, was a leader in the William Road Gang which operates off Maxfield Avenue and was out on bail on a murder charge.

“A condition of his bail was that he must not be seen in the community of William Road or anywhere within the Kingston 13 area. This order was made by the court based on them accepting evidence that this man is a known violence perpetrator and carries with him a wave of violence whenever time he is in the community,” Phipps said.

One protester insisted that Morris was a changed man.

“People seh ‘Ray! Ray! Ray!’, but that was of the past. We a talk bout di present now. Him have him kids dem. ... Him is a changed person doing business. He is a peacemaker in the community. I can tell you that for sure,” said the protester.

The police superintendent said Morris challenged the police in a shoot-out on Thursday night and was hit after the cops responded to information of gunshots being fired in the community.

He was also found with a firearm, Phipps said, although he acknowledged that the residents were disputing the police’s account.

“The information is somewhat being challenged by citizens within the community, and we have engaged the services of INDECOM and we’re having them going into the area and have taken over this particular investigation,” he said, referencing the Independent Commission of Investigations.

INDECOM did not respond to questions sent by The Gleaner up to press time.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com