Dad criticised for retreat from cops as son shot dead

Wayne Smikle said he regrets dodging a cop’s bullet, which damaged a step, which caused him to retreat from patrolling police – the prelude to the final time he saw his son alive Tuesday night.

When he darted inside, the elder Smikle said that he heard repeated gunfire and screams from his 24-year-old son, Kashief ‘Zino’ Smikle.

The grieving dad said he rushed back outside just in time to see Kashief take his last breath.

“Him (Kashief) say, ‘Don’t leave me, fada’, and mi say, ‘Mi nah leave you,’ and di man fire the shot straight inna the step,” the 60-year-old said in a Gleaner interview on Wednesday.

Some residents of the northern St Andrew gullyside community criticised Smikle Wednesday, arguing that he should have resisted the police - even if that meant staring down the barrels of their guns.

“Wayne, you shouldn’t go in … . Mi nuh response! You fi back yuh pickney fi make dem see say you nuh response. Yuh fi itch up pon yuh pickney. Make dem have to kill you, too,” an unidentified resident said.

Kashief, who was a merchandiser, had gone to get food when he was killed, his dad reported.

He said his son was about to enter his yard, shortly after 9 p.m., when the police approached him. Kashief shouted, “A shop mi a come from, a shop mi a come from,” his father said.

Smikle denies claims by the police that a 9mm Browning single-action pistol was seized from his son’s person.

“Him have the orange juice inna one hand and the raisin bread inna one hand, so which hand him use fi pull a gun pon unnu?” the elder Smike asked, adamant that his son was not violent and had never been seen with even a slingshot.

He also questioned the professionalism of the policemen on the operation.

Cassava Piece residents have insisted that the slain man is innocent. They blocked the main road in the community on Wednesday morning, but it was soon cleared by the police.

The family reportedly buried Kashief’s mother less than a year ago and has still not recovered.

Up to midday Wednesday, no relative had gone to identify Kashielf’s body at the morgue, citing the task as too painful.

The Independent Commission of Investigation (INDECOM) said that it received reports that a team of police on foot patrol alleged that a group of three men fired in their direction. The lawmen reportedly pursued them and fired back.

Kashief Smikle was seen with gunshot injuries and was pronounced dead at the Kingston Public Hospital.

The seized firearm and Kashief Smikle’s were swabbed for DNA testing, the watchdog organisation said.

All firearms were boxed and sealed for submission to the Forensics Lab for ballistics testing.

The police personnel involved in the incident will be required to provide statements and submit to interviews, INDECOM said.

Efforts to speak with head of the St Andrew North Police Division, Senior Superintendent Aaron Fletcher, were unsuccessful on Wednesday.