(Trinidad Express) Two men were shot and killed during what police claimed was an exchange of gunfire early yesterday in Second Caledonia, Morvant.
“Not so,” said the relatives of one of the men who claimed they were killed “unjustly”.
The dead men are Allasafe Huggins, 26, of Second Caledonia, Morvant, and Kwasi Williams, 23, of Vegas in Morvant.
The number of police killings for the year-to-date is 22.
Police said both men were on bail for gun possession and kidnapping and one of the conditions for bail was that they were to wear ankle monitors.
Police said that around 4.30 a.m. a team of officers of the Multi Operational Police Section (MOPS) were part of a larger team that carried out several exercises simultaneously in different parts of the Morvant area.
Among the houses searched was that of Huggins, who lived in an apartment next to the home of his mother, father and siblings at Second Caledonia.
Officers said when they entered his home they saw him raising a gun in their direction.
He squeezed off two rounds before the police fired back, hitting him several times.
None of the officers was struck.
Police said at the home of the second man, which was being raided at same time as the first, Williams opened fire on the police as well.
Police fired back at him and he, too, was struck multiple times about the body.
The two injured men were taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital where they both pronounced dead on arrival.
The Express yesterday visited the home of Huggins and spoke to his father, Steve Huggins.
He insisted that yesterday morning after hearing shouts of “Police!” his son opened the door, let them in and they still shot him.
“Officers came in this morning flashing a light in my eyes, but I could not see who it was,” he said.
“I asked them why allyuh flashing this light and they said ‘police’,” he said.
“By the time they said police they were already in the yard here. They threatened to kick down my door so my wife opened the door and they entered. They went in the room, take one of my sons here and put him on the floor face down and they were antagonising him,” he said.
“They then pulled out my daughter and granddaughter from their room where they were sleeping and brought them into my wife and my room and put them all to sit on a bed,” he said.
“We could not make a phone call, couldn’t call anybody nothing,” he said.
“With that they ended up taking all our names, dates of birth, where we working what and what and what,” he said.
He said that they then asked who had been occupying an apartment to the back of the house and he told him that his other son lives there.
“When that was said, all of their focus divert to the back,” he said.
They approached the front door and began pounding shouting police!
“My son opened the door because they announced police and with that they go inside,” he said.
“Two minutes later, we heard three gunshots. After that we heard a fourth one and place get quiet and that was it after that,” he said
He added that the police did not want to answer any of their questions.
The Express asked why both men had ankle monitors.
Huggins explained, “Well it had a couple incidents in the earlies that police said he (Huggins) was involved with. Lo and behold, he was in none of that because they showed all kinds of video footage and what and what and what. There was nothing to say well, yes, he had done something they accused him of.”
He explained that the reason his son had been jailed was because he had done something (he did not want to say what) and he had confessed to a senior police officer who then took him into custody.
He said he got the monitor last December.
