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Police killing of boy, 16, raises more questions
BY INGRID BROWN, Observer senior reporter browni@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, May 04, 2009
There are far more questions than answers surrounding the death of student, Hussein McCormack, 16, who was shot and killed by the police inside the Lee's Fifth Avenue Store along Constant Spring Road on April 5.
Sixteen-year-old Hussein McCormack was shot and killed by the police inside the Lee's Fifth Avenue Store along Constant Spring Road last month.
Even more mysterious is how Hussein ended up being locked inside the store overnight without anyone knowing and how a struggle between a 16-year-old and three policemen ended up with two bullets to his chest and groin.
"If he even was struggling with them you want tell me say three policemen couldn't subdue a 16-year-old without killing him," is the question, Orinthia McCormack asked repeatedly about her son's death.
Hussein has been dead for nearly three weeks now and still the family does not know what really happened.
The last time McCormack saw her son, was Saturday April 4, when she said he helped her to get dressed for a funeral, and he even lotioned her feet as he did many times before.
A few hours later, he left home to visit relatives in Half-way Tree and that was the last time his family saw him alive.
The next time they laid eyes on the 10th grader at Bridgeport High School, he was dead on a slab in a public morgue.
McCormack said that when her son did not return home on Saturday she tried unsuccessfully to reach her in-laws by phone to find out if he was staying over.
Since he did not own a phone, she said she could not call him but knew he would return home before Monday as he never missed school.
Hussein's parents Orinthia and Noel are still seeking answers.
By Sunday evening she had the gut wrenching feeling that something was terribly wrong after hearing on the news about the police killing an unidentified man.
On Monday she went to the morgue and hospital in search of answers but it was on Tuesday when she visited the Half-Way-Tree police station that her worst fear was confirmed.
"I had his school tie and his passport and as I hold it up one police got up and shake him head and say if I had gone there he wouldn't be dead."
Almost three weeks later as McCormack and her husband Noel await the autopsy to be done at the Spanish Town morgue they are begging for justice.
The police report issued a day after the Hussein was killed said: "An unidentified man believed to be about 18 years old was fatally shot by the police after he attacked a lawman at Lee's Fifth Avenue".
According to the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) "about 11:30 am, the police responded to an assignment from police control of a break-in at the store. On arrival the store manager reported that a section of the store was vandalised. During a search the unidentified man who was armed with a knife and was hiding among the displays attacked one of the lawmen. A struggle developed between the lawman and his attacker during which the police was reportedly bitten and the unidentified man shot," the CCN said.
Corporal Jason Morgan of the Bureau of Special Investigations told the Sunday Observer that the initial investigation seems to suggest that Hussein was locked in the store overnight.
Corporal Morgan said that the investigation is in its initial stage and as soon as it is completed the file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for a ruling.
Lee's Fifth Avenue store manager Ann Marie Harris also admitted that there was no sign of a break-in at the store.
She said that one of the workers recalled Hussein entering the store sometime before 3 pm on Saturday and checked in a bag before asking to be shown a particular item of clothing. She said that he was directed to the section and that was the last time he was seen by the worker.
Around 3 pm that same day, Harris said another worker drew her attention to footprints on the toilet seat, tank top and face basin in the customer bathroom as well as some shifted gypsum in the roof.
"My first thought was that maybe someone was stealing clothes and heard someone coming and hid them in the ceiling so I had the worker climb a ladder and feel inside," she said.
When nothing was found, she dismissed the incident from her mind.
Harris said that three security guards checked the store thoroughly close to 8 o'clock before she locked up and armed the alarm.
The alarm could not be armed, she said, if it detected the slightest body heat inside the store.
"That is why I am wondering where he could have been that he was not detected," she questioned.
According to Harris, when she came to open the store close to 11 o'clock on Sunday morning, she immediately realised that something was amiss as some of the gypsum in the ceiling were torn down in a section and an empty cash drawer was missing, which forced her to call security for a check of the premises.
She said that upon closer inspection they found several empty food packages on the floor.
"It was obvious someone had been in the store and so the security asked that I call the police," she told the Observer.
Harris said that when the police arrived, it was discovered that an office had been broken into, graffiti written on the wall and attempts were made to break into a safe containing money.
The police, Harris said, told her that the intruder would still have to be in the store, as there were no signs that he had exited the building.
"The police was saying I know unu in here come out because unu surrounded," Harris said, adding that based upon the damage done, the police believed then that there was more than one intruder.
She said that Hussein was eventually spotted hiding between a rack of trousers by a worker and when an alarm was raised he jumped out with a ratchet knife in his hand.
She said she fled to one end of the store and he to the other with the police giving chase. Shortly after she heard shots.
Harris said at the time he was clad in clothes from the store with the censors still attached and a bag was found with items from the store.
A cellular phone was also retrieved from him as well as a recently used phone card, she said.
But Hussein's parents said that this behaviour was uncharacteristic of their son, whom they described as "a jovial boy who loved school."
According to his mother, Hussein did not own a cell phone and never carried a knife.
"One person tell we say dem hear him a bawl say me no do nutten why unu want kill me and the police were there kicking and boxing him," she said.
A senior police officer who is close to the family told the Observer she was convinced the police murdered Hussein.
"I am one of them but I am tired of this that them going around killing people's children," the police officer said, adding that they probably felt that he was a street child.
The McCormack's are demanding answers while insisting that if their son was stealing from the store why didn't he break a glass and escape during the night.
She said that the store clothes appeared to have been put on her son after he died as the pants which were pulled over his was too small.
"If someone was going to steal something wouldn't they put it on under their clothes" she questioned.
The store manager is also baffled by this as she said all the clothes in the bag still had the store censors on, therefore he would not have been able to walk out the door when the store opened without setting off the alarm.
"It is also strange that he would leave things all over the place to show that there was a break-in if he knew that he could not get back out of the store and that someone would notice something was wrong," she reasoned.
The other unanswered questions are why didn't Hussein signal to someone through the glass door that he was locked in, and why wouldn't he have cleared up all evidence of an intrusion if he had intended to sneak out the store when it opened?
Another question is why didn't he answer when the police, security guards and workers began searching the store?
But the big question is why did the police shoot and killed him instead of subduing him, even if he had a knife?
McCormack said that Hussein had so many plans for his 17th birthday and being good in science subjects, he wanted to become a doctor.
"He was a very jovial child and we had a very close relationship because him always playing around with me," she said, her eyes filling with tears. Now all that is left are memories of their firstborn.
BY INGRID BROWN, Observer senior reporter browni@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, May 04, 2009
There are far more questions than answers surrounding the death of student, Hussein McCormack, 16, who was shot and killed by the police inside the Lee's Fifth Avenue Store along Constant Spring Road on April 5.
Sixteen-year-old Hussein McCormack was shot and killed by the police inside the Lee's Fifth Avenue Store along Constant Spring Road last month.Even more mysterious is how Hussein ended up being locked inside the store overnight without anyone knowing and how a struggle between a 16-year-old and three policemen ended up with two bullets to his chest and groin.
"If he even was struggling with them you want tell me say three policemen couldn't subdue a 16-year-old without killing him," is the question, Orinthia McCormack asked repeatedly about her son's death.
Hussein has been dead for nearly three weeks now and still the family does not know what really happened.
The last time McCormack saw her son, was Saturday April 4, when she said he helped her to get dressed for a funeral, and he even lotioned her feet as he did many times before.
A few hours later, he left home to visit relatives in Half-way Tree and that was the last time his family saw him alive.
The next time they laid eyes on the 10th grader at Bridgeport High School, he was dead on a slab in a public morgue.
McCormack said that when her son did not return home on Saturday she tried unsuccessfully to reach her in-laws by phone to find out if he was staying over.
Since he did not own a phone, she said she could not call him but knew he would return home before Monday as he never missed school.
Hussein's parents Orinthia and Noel are still seeking answers.By Sunday evening she had the gut wrenching feeling that something was terribly wrong after hearing on the news about the police killing an unidentified man.
On Monday she went to the morgue and hospital in search of answers but it was on Tuesday when she visited the Half-Way-Tree police station that her worst fear was confirmed.
"I had his school tie and his passport and as I hold it up one police got up and shake him head and say if I had gone there he wouldn't be dead."
Almost three weeks later as McCormack and her husband Noel await the autopsy to be done at the Spanish Town morgue they are begging for justice.
The police report issued a day after the Hussein was killed said: "An unidentified man believed to be about 18 years old was fatally shot by the police after he attacked a lawman at Lee's Fifth Avenue".
According to the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) "about 11:30 am, the police responded to an assignment from police control of a break-in at the store. On arrival the store manager reported that a section of the store was vandalised. During a search the unidentified man who was armed with a knife and was hiding among the displays attacked one of the lawmen. A struggle developed between the lawman and his attacker during which the police was reportedly bitten and the unidentified man shot," the CCN said.
Corporal Jason Morgan of the Bureau of Special Investigations told the Sunday Observer that the initial investigation seems to suggest that Hussein was locked in the store overnight.
Corporal Morgan said that the investigation is in its initial stage and as soon as it is completed the file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for a ruling.
Lee's Fifth Avenue store manager Ann Marie Harris also admitted that there was no sign of a break-in at the store.
She said that one of the workers recalled Hussein entering the store sometime before 3 pm on Saturday and checked in a bag before asking to be shown a particular item of clothing. She said that he was directed to the section and that was the last time he was seen by the worker.
Around 3 pm that same day, Harris said another worker drew her attention to footprints on the toilet seat, tank top and face basin in the customer bathroom as well as some shifted gypsum in the roof.
"My first thought was that maybe someone was stealing clothes and heard someone coming and hid them in the ceiling so I had the worker climb a ladder and feel inside," she said.
When nothing was found, she dismissed the incident from her mind.
Harris said that three security guards checked the store thoroughly close to 8 o'clock before she locked up and armed the alarm.
The alarm could not be armed, she said, if it detected the slightest body heat inside the store.
"That is why I am wondering where he could have been that he was not detected," she questioned.
According to Harris, when she came to open the store close to 11 o'clock on Sunday morning, she immediately realised that something was amiss as some of the gypsum in the ceiling were torn down in a section and an empty cash drawer was missing, which forced her to call security for a check of the premises.
She said that upon closer inspection they found several empty food packages on the floor.
"It was obvious someone had been in the store and so the security asked that I call the police," she told the Observer.
Harris said that when the police arrived, it was discovered that an office had been broken into, graffiti written on the wall and attempts were made to break into a safe containing money.
The police, Harris said, told her that the intruder would still have to be in the store, as there were no signs that he had exited the building.
"The police was saying I know unu in here come out because unu surrounded," Harris said, adding that based upon the damage done, the police believed then that there was more than one intruder.
She said that Hussein was eventually spotted hiding between a rack of trousers by a worker and when an alarm was raised he jumped out with a ratchet knife in his hand.
She said she fled to one end of the store and he to the other with the police giving chase. Shortly after she heard shots.
Harris said at the time he was clad in clothes from the store with the censors still attached and a bag was found with items from the store.
A cellular phone was also retrieved from him as well as a recently used phone card, she said.
But Hussein's parents said that this behaviour was uncharacteristic of their son, whom they described as "a jovial boy who loved school."
According to his mother, Hussein did not own a cell phone and never carried a knife.
"One person tell we say dem hear him a bawl say me no do nutten why unu want kill me and the police were there kicking and boxing him," she said.
A senior police officer who is close to the family told the Observer she was convinced the police murdered Hussein.
"I am one of them but I am tired of this that them going around killing people's children," the police officer said, adding that they probably felt that he was a street child.
The McCormack's are demanding answers while insisting that if their son was stealing from the store why didn't he break a glass and escape during the night.
She said that the store clothes appeared to have been put on her son after he died as the pants which were pulled over his was too small.
"If someone was going to steal something wouldn't they put it on under their clothes" she questioned.
The store manager is also baffled by this as she said all the clothes in the bag still had the store censors on, therefore he would not have been able to walk out the door when the store opened without setting off the alarm.
"It is also strange that he would leave things all over the place to show that there was a break-in if he knew that he could not get back out of the store and that someone would notice something was wrong," she reasoned.
The other unanswered questions are why didn't Hussein signal to someone through the glass door that he was locked in, and why wouldn't he have cleared up all evidence of an intrusion if he had intended to sneak out the store when it opened?
Another question is why didn't he answer when the police, security guards and workers began searching the store?
But the big question is why did the police shoot and killed him instead of subduing him, even if he had a knife?
McCormack said that Hussein had so many plans for his 17th birthday and being good in science subjects, he wanted to become a doctor.
"He was a very jovial child and we had a very close relationship because him always playing around with me," she said, her eyes filling with tears. Now all that is left are memories of their firstborn.
A man cautions this motorist after he crossed a roadblock set up by residents on Mountain View Avenue in Kingston yesterday. (Photo: Karl McLarty)
The motorcycle on which two alleged gunmen were shot dead by lawmen in the Mountain View community yesterday. (Photo: Karl McLarty)
, otherwise I will rot in jail.
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