The autopsy performed on Valerie Gordon—the mother of nine who dropped dead after police allegedly opened fire near her Sophia home—revealed she died of a burst artery in her brain and the case has raised questions about when lawmen should resort to the use of firearms.
Family members yesterday told Stabroek News that Gordon’s post-mortem examination report showed that she died of haemorrhaging in the brain caused by a burst artery and hypertension. The family had initially stated that the woman had an underlying high blood pressure problem.
“Seems that the sudden shock send up her pressure and she got an instant stroke which kill her, a doctor told us,” the woman’s daughter told Stabroek News.
Her family had stated that the woman was attending to a customer at the shop at her house when she heard shots being fired, shortly after a vehicle with police had passed. Knowing that her son was outside, she panicked and ran to the front to ascertain what had happened, and collapsed in the arms of a friend.
The family accused police of ignoring their appeals for assistance to transport Gordon to the hospital, saying that they instead mocked them and drove away. They said the police had told them it was not their job to transport anyone and that they should “sap her with methylated spirits”, as ranks possibly believed the woman had only fainted.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said that investigations are currently ongoing into the incident. He had informed that if it was found that the woman died of natural causes there was no need for a criminal investigation but nonetheless departmental procedure would require a separate investigation for the rounds discharged.
‘Firing order’
Questions have been raised by many persons concerning police discharging live rounds in the presence of civilians. It is to this end that a senior police officer explained that there are rules governing when police should fire their guns. “There is a procedure called a firing order for all officers who discharge their firearms. It is stated in their handbooks and they should know it by heart before going out into the field of work,” the senior officer told Stabroek News.
“The main reason for firing is apprehension of danger to yourself and comrades…. If they feel they are under threat, they have just reason to defend themselves in preservation of their lives. However, they cannot throw caution to the wind and fire willy-nilly because there are also GPF rules governing misuse of firepower by the police.”
The officer stated that many times the police are wrongfully accused of wanton firing, but more than 90% of the times the public isn’t aware of the situations and high risk that necessitate shooting.
“It’s a jungle out there for the police because a lot of the times the people see us ast the enemy. They don’t know the many high-powered illegal arms that criminals possess and wouldn’t think twice about using, children or no children, civilians or no civilians. Because who you think they rob? Thief-men like themselves? No it’s ordinary hard working people like you,” he explained.
“I would not say that there are not rogue or trigger happy policemen and women but you cannot judge all by the bad few.
At the end of the day our job is to serve the people, so we just have to suck up the insult and do our best. But God knows when there are criminal elements out there thriving on a few that hate the force,” he added.
On Gordon’s death, he said, “It is a sad case because now so close to Mother’s Day, so many children are without a mother. But we cannot say if her death and the shooting are directly related nor should we cast blame on the police. She had high blood pressure …let’s just wait until the investigations into the firing of rounds are completed and continue to educate our force on procedure.”
