(Trinidad Express) Two men were shot and killed by police officers in Mt D’or, Champs Fleurs, yesterday and their relatives have given two completely different reactions to their deaths—with one mother saying her son “had it coming”.
According to police reports, around 4.30 a.m. officers of the North Central Division Task Force (both east and west), Tunapuna and St Joseph CID and the K9 Unit entered the Spring Valley area, off Mt D’or Road.
The large team of officers arrived with warrants, with the intent to search the homes of “persons of interest” regarding several recent shootings in the area.
Officers were preparing to enter one of these homes, when they were confronted by Jerome Charles, 24, and Andrew Campbell, 22, who were both armed with guns.
Police said both men pointed guns at them and opened fire, using a late-model AK-47 and a Glock-17 pistol.
Officers took cover and fired back.
The two were struck, but still managed to run off.
Police ran after them and met them both nursing gunshot wounds.
Police said Charles and Campbell were then disarmed and taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, where they were both pronounced dead on arrival.
Officers said the assault rifle used by the duo contained 18 rounds of 7.62 ammunition, while the Glock was found with 19 rounds of 9mm ammunition.
When the Express visited Mt D’or yesterday, police were still in the area as they continued their search for illegal guns and ammunition.
The Express also met Charles’ mother, Vanessa Charles.
She said she last spoke to her son about an hour and a half before his death.
“He called me at 3.19 a.m. and told me he was liming with some friends on some steps near our home, and that he would be coming in just now,” Vanessa Charles said.
She added that around 4.30 a.m. she was awakened by the sound of gunshots, and was later told that her son had been shot.
The mother said she was also told that Charles was asleep when the police “ambushed” him.
“He didn’t have no gun. He was just in his boxers and slippers alone, and there was no shootout.”
Lower down from where Charles lived was the home of Campbell.
He lived in a small structure he shared with his grandfather after his mother said he could no longer live with her.
Amanda Haynes, Campbell’s mother, said, “He never listened to me and I had asked him to move out.”
“He was very harden and while he did not work anywhere, he would do any hustle he could get,” she said.
“Everyone, including his stepfather, tried to talk to him and we did so on numerous occasions,” said Campbell’s mother.
“But he was very, very harden,” she said.
The woman explained that Campbell had never been arrested by the police, but “his name had been calling” in a few incidents.
She said despite her trials with Campbell, “I am still feeling very sad and hurt about what happened but I am a praying person, so I have strength from Jesus”.
The number of people killed by the police for 2023, so far, now stands at two.
