16-yr-old reportedly shot in scuffle with Police
The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security yesterday pledged its support to bereaved Sharon Fraser, whose teenaged son, Kelvin Fraser, was shot and killed by the police on Monday afternoon. Sharon Fraser is a patient care assistant at the Palms on Brickdam.
The Director of Social Services, Wentworth Tanner, accompanied by Administrator of the Palms, Govind Singh, and Social Worker, Irene Thomas, yesterday visited the home of the schoolboy at 34 East Patentia Housing Scheme, West Bank Demerara, where they offered their condolences and counselled the relatives of 16-year-old Kelvin, a student of Patentia Secondary School, who was killed by the police.
Mr. Tanner told the Guyana Chronicle that the Ministry is saddened by the incident, and assured the boy’s relatives of its support in any way possible.
He said, “It is not easy losing a teenaged boy and we are here to assist in this difficult time, not only financially; we will also provide counselling to the siblings and parents of the schoolboy.”
Sharon Fraser told the Guyana Chronicle yesterday that her son did not attend school on Monday.
The grieving woman added that on Monday she was sitting at home chatting with her son, who had asked her to purchase a school pants for him; and she did not know it was the last time she was going to see him alive.
Responding to allegations that her son was using drugs, Ms Fraser said she went to the school and was told by teachers that Kelvin was not ‘smoking marijuana’ on Monday when the police were summoned to the school.
Ms. Fraser noted that her son left home to go see his girlfriend after she telephoned him on his cellular phone and she is positive he was not involved with drugs.
The woman explained that after her son left home, she received a telephone call, and soon after the police showed up at her home and began questioning her about her son’s name and age.
She said, “At no time did they tell me my child was dead. They left and came back and asked me to accompany them to Wales Police Station. Even then they did not tell me my son was shot and killed.
“They took me to the La Grange Police Station, where they placed me in another vehicle. There was blood all over the vehicle. Then they took me to the West Demerara Regional Hospital, where I identified my son’s body in the morgue.”
Ms. Fraser stated that when she saw her son’s body she could not believe it. She saw a gunshot wound in the neck and his eyes and mouth were open and his body was covered in mud and blood.
Giving an account of what she heard had happened, Ms. Fraser told the Guyana Chronicle that a number of students, accompanied by a few who are not pupils of the school, were in the compound, apparently smoking marijuana, when the headteacher summoned a member of the community policing group.
The woman added that the police showed up at the school, the locked gate was opened for them, and they began beating the teenagers.
At this point, Kelvin, who was in the vicinity, ran away from the police, who gave chase.
She said he managed to run from the school compound but was cut down by a bullet. He fell into a nearby trench and was pulled by the policeman who had shot him. The policeman took him to the West Demerara Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Ms. Fraser said that her son complained that at school they only did one subject per day and most of the time they had nothing to do.
She noted that the school was deemed a ‘cow boy’ school. The gate was locked during school hours and the students were allowed to hang around the premises.
During bouts of loud crying, Ms. Fraser said her child did not deserve to die that way, since he had managed to stay out of trouble. She is praying that justice be served.
The 36-year-old woman, holding a photograph of her son, said he was smitten by a girl in his class and had expressed the desire to marry her after finishing school. The two were inseparable and spent hours on the phone chatting.
Ms Fraser said, “My son was innocent and did not deserve to die that way.”
A group of policemen yesterday visited the Patentia Secondary School, where they questioned the headteacher as investigations continue.
Meanwhile, the police in a press release late Monday night, said they are investigating the shooting which took place when the police were responding to a report of a group of men molesting female students at the Patentia Secondary School.
Initial investigations indicate that the Headmistress of the school reported to a member of the Community Policing Group who in turn informed the police at Wales Police Station.
The police responded promptly and on arrival at the school, six youths were pointed out as the perpetrators, the release said.
The release said that on seeing the police, four of the youths ran away, while two were arrested. The ranks pursued the four youths and caught up with Kelvin Fraser at Third Street, Patentia Housing Scheme.
During efforts to arrest him, a scuffle ensued between himself and a rank who was armed with a service shotgun which went off, hitting Fraser in the chest.
He was taken to the West Demerara Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.