Army tactics under fire
Published:Friday | May 28, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter
The fatal shooting of businessman Keith Clarke in the upscale St Andrew community of East Kirkland Heights yesterday has led to alarm at the strategy of the security forces during the current state of emergency.
The concerns come at a time when the death toll from the attack on gunmen holed up in Tivoli Gardens continues to climb and when more questions are being asked about the strategy of the soldiers and police in the west Kingston community.
Keith - brother of former government minister and Gleaner columnist Claude Clarke, and a brother-in-law to Children's Advocate Mary Clarke - was killed at his home during a predawn operation by the security forces.
As news spread of his death, relatives, neighbours and friends demanded answers to the many questions surrounding the incident.
"I think this is alarming. I know that the security forces have been given powers to deal with the serious problems facing us, but I believe that where power is, accountability has to be also there because, in my view, the practices which should have been followed were not followed," said Andrew Gallimore, member of parliament for the area.
Gallimore, a junior government minister, argued that if the proper rules of engagement had been followed, it was unlikely that Clarke would have been killed.
"This is totally unacceptable and I hope it does not represent how the law-enforcement officers administer justice in this country," Gallimore added.
He was supported by several residents angered by the shooting.
"Mr Clarke shouldn't dead so. Him was a good man and him never involve inna anything and the soldier them come kill the good, good man. This can't go so," shouted one woman as she demanded answers.
"We want to know what kind of information them get and what them kill the good, innocent man for. Them thing yah a slackness and now them a stop we from even go look pon him. A this the country come to?" asked another woman.
The official report from the police did not provide details on how Clarke was killed.
Instead, the cops directed reporters to the Bureau of Special Investigations, which is probing the matter.
Hoodlums not captured
According to the police, Clarke was fatally shot and four soldiers shot and injured during an operation to apprehend Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.
But that story failed to satisfy residents, family and friends who wanted to know if the security forces had kicked in the door to Clarke's house before he was shot.
Questions also surrounded the failure of the security forces to capture any of the men they said were firing at them and the inability of the soldiers to find more than one gun despite an extended period of shooting.
At daybreak, news quickly spread that Clarke had been fatally shot.
Family members and friends who rushed to the scene begged for information without success for more than five hours as stone-faced soldiers - those not covered by masks - ignored all questions directed at them.
Police who arrived at mid-morning were no better help as they extended the crime scene and prevented Clarke's daughter from going to the house to comfort her mother.
A minister of religion, an attorney and family members were also denied access to the widow for several hours.
Neither the police nor the soldiers offered any explanation for their position besides the oft-repeated statement that no one could be allowed to enter or leave the crime scene.