A mentally unstable man was yesterday afternoon shot dead by police at Strathavon, Cane Grove Mahaica shortly after he threatened a woman with a cutlass and damaged a motorcar.
However relatives of Junior Gulliver lambasted the police for shooting the father of three, thrice in the back saying that the actions of the ranks were uncalled for. They said Gulliver had not attacked the police nor was he armed when he was shot. He was sitting in his house, they said.
Police said in a press release that around 15:00 hrs, ranks of the Cane Grove Police Station responded to reports received that Gulliver, who was reported to be mentally unstable, was threatening a woman with a cutlass at Strathavon.
During their investigations the police were attacked by Gulliver, who was armed with the cutlass, causing them to resort to the use of force and he was shot to his body, the release said. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Mahaicony Hospital.
The windscreen and other parts of a motor vehicle that was used by the ranks to get to the scene were also damaged by Gulliver during the incident, the release said.
The police’s Office of Professional Responsibility is conducting investigations into the matter.
But Gulliver’s relatives said he was usually a friendly person and had been interfering with some children, which resulted in the police being summoned. One relative said that a resident transported the ranks to the area in his car. She said she was made to understand that at some point Gulliver used a “dull cutlass” to lash the vehicle. The relative insisted that based on what other family members who visited the scene say, the vehicle was not badly damaged.
The relative said that after that incident they were told that the police left the scene but later returned. Another relative said that the ranks were armed with two guns.
According to the relatives, Gulliver was sitting in his house with his back turned to the ranks who opened fire. They said that the ranks did not utter a word to Gulliver before they fired shots.
“I am in shock…You just can’t shoot people like that. Why they didn’t shoot him in the foot?” one relative said adding that like everyone else Gulliver was human and came from parents.
Stabroek News was told that the man began having mental problems after his father passed away several years ago. His mother is sickly.
No one could say if the man was receiving treatment for his mental illness.
