I WAS just about to write on the “shot-in-the-mouth kid” when the incident involving the shooting death of felon Lloyd Hazel Jr. hit the headlines.From reports gathered, this 19-year-old and another youthful accomplice had robbed a businessman, and they were about to make good their escape when they were cornered by passing armed security, who shot and killed Hazel.

This latest incident comes on the heels of an incident involving another teen, who is accused of a similar offence but has somehow managed to get help from his criminal associates to now make up a story of police brutality. It is the usual criminal-turn-victim scenario that is a prominent feature of Region 4, Georgetown in particular.

However, lest I be sidetracked, let me return to the most recent of criminalities, that involving Lloyd Hazel Jr.), another youngster whose life could have been categorized as an “asset” to society had he engaged himself in a more productive existence.

Lloyd Hazel and accomplices were caught in the very act of armed robbery, and he paid the ultimate price, bringing to an end another sad chapter in what has become the criminal landscape of the capital city.

Now his family cannot craft an excuse for him, because the tell-tale facts in this case are too revealing; so let us try a few mitigating circumstances to shore up his horrible image. His mother says that she sent him to get some photographs which she wanted to send off to a friend in the United States. His father, on the other hand, gives a completely different story, in which he states that his son, who is the owner of a Toyota Premio, left his car at home and went to town in a minibus to buy cigarettes.

There are two contrasting stories, one from his father and another from his mother; so which is true? This is the million-dollar question only they can answer, but let us scrutinize these statements from the two parents.

For academic purposes, let us give both parents the benefit of the doubt: that the lad was indeed given two instructions, one from either parent. However, the question remains “What was he doing with a helmet on his head?” Is it the newest craze to cover one’s head with a helmet when one boards a bus? Certainly not! You do not wear a helmet to board a bus, you wear a helmet when you are riding a motor cycle; which in this case was the getaway vehicle.

How many times haven’t we heard of armed robberies committed around the Georgetown area and the vehicle used to flee the scene was a CG motorcycle? There have been numerous sightings of that very same motor cycle leaving the scene of a crime. So, here again, Papa and Mama Hazel need to be very careful with the statements they make, because in making those statements they might very well be giving their son away.

Even more revealing is the father’s testimony, whereby he asserts that his son, who is the owner of a Toyota Premio (very expensive car), left his car at home to go buy cigarettes. Well, that is a shocker: At 19 years of age he was the “proud” owner of such an expensive vehicle. By revealing one of his son’s assets to the public out there, he has unwittingly unearthed valuable information into his son’s criminal past.

He, in his haste to show that his son is not a thief because “he owns millions,” never stopped to think that questions would be raised as to the vile methods he employed to get the millions.

So it all goes to show how lucrative criminal enterprise is in the city, and that is why the age for such activities keeps getting lower and lower.

The point I am making is Georgetown is a haven for juvenile criminality – the city is infested with them. I must admit that law enforcement has a real hard task tackling this problem
NEIL ADAMS