(Trinidad Guardian) A regular day for Constable Shawn Dyer yesterday went horrendously wrong after he responded to a report of a shooting and found his mother to be the victim.
According to police sources, Dyer was just reporting for duty at the Firearm Interdiction Unit based at the Besson Street Police Station when he responded to the report, since his mother, Felecia Dyer-Francis, attends the nearby South East Port-of-Spain Seventh Day Adventist Church located at Piccadilly Street.
Dyer, police sources said, and a female constable walked to the location, only for him to see his mother’s body in the driver’s seat of her white Nissan Tiida. Dyer collapsed at the sight, police said. His colleague called for backup and his mother was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Dyer-Francis, 73, was a mother of three, two daughters in the US and her son. She lived in Pine Ridge Heights, Lopinot, Arouca, but was originally from Laventille, where Dyer still lives. Members of her church said they plan to hold a special prayer meeting today to pray for the man who killed her.
Like a predator, the killer camouflaged himself in Community Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme overalls. He sat on a concrete bench beneath the shade of a tree opposite the church Dyer-Francis attended yesterday morning. When the opportunity arose he pounced on the elderly woman, shooting her through the windshield of her car at least four times around 10.30 am before running off and disappearing along Bath Street.
Speaking with the media at the scene yesterday, fellow church member Kathleen Julien said the killer will be brought to justice, either by man or by God, but she and others will be praying that he repents. She said she too could have been shot as she was supposed to go out with Dyer-Francis, but ran home to eat something quickly.
“We have to come together to pray for the individual (killer). We want him to repent and baptize, we want justice either from God or man. Killing him won’t bring her back so is better he repent. Right now wickedness overtake the country, people have no mercy for man, woman or child,” Julien said.
Julien said Dyer-Francis was looking forward to meeting her youngest grandchild, who was born recently in Texas. She described the pensioner as a jovial and charitable woman who attended Friday morning prayers religiously from 6 to 7 am at the church, where the group prayed for the community and the country. Today they plan a special prayer for her killer.
Asked whether the church or the members will cease attending given the violence that came to its front door, Julien said, “This is my Father’s world, I am not afraid. If we as Christians start to cringe then is trouble for this world. We used to walk the length and breadth of Laventille praying and that is the reason there was a reduction in crime in the area.”
Pastor of the church, Mervyn Cato, said Dyer-Francis was a faithful member who participated heavily in the women’s and children’s ministries as well as the prayer groups. He said the killing had left the church in pain, but being a church leader in the area he and others were not unaccustomed to the violence. He recalled visiting members in the neighbouring communities and having to dodge bullets. In spite of that, Cato said, neither he nor the church is planning to leave Laventille.
“People will feel a way, but I will not end the mission of the church. We will begin our healing and counselling tomorrow (today). We hope things turn around,” Cato said.
“This is the end of times, things will get worse. Look at the economic crisis, people will lose jobs and some will use that as an excuse to hurt people. This is a tremendous loss to the church.”
Death threats after raid
Investigators were weighing the possibility yesterday that Dyer-Francis’ murder was linked to death threats her son received. Police said on Tuesday PC Dyer was on a police exercise with his colleagues and searched the home of a Chaguanas man, where they reportedly found a Smith and Wesson .40mm pistol and 15 rounds of ammunition. Following the discovery, police said Dyer received several death threats not only to himself but to his family.
Head of the Port-of-Spain Division, Floris Hodge-Griffith, yesterday expressed condolences to Dyer’s family, adding that the murder was a direct attack on the police service and a clear message.
Up to late yesterday, Dyer was assisting his colleagues at the Homicide Bureau of Investigations which placed his mother’s murder as bringing the toll to 389 for the year, 25 more than for the same period last year.
