Budding deejay, friend killed in confrontation with cops

On Monday night, Paul Newell listened intently as his son Giovanni, a budding deejay, told him that he believed his big break was extremely near.

Just hours later though, the dreams of Giovanni, who goes by the moniker Gio Don, were shattered as he and another man were killed by police during a reported confrontation.

“Mi and him outside until about 1 a.m. because him say him have to find a hit tune fi make mi and him mada left out ya. Now him can’t find the hit because him dead. My son was a loving yute and him was just an entertainer who a look a big break and dem stop him inna him track,” Newell said.

According to police reports, approximately 5:20 a.m. Tuesday, an intelligence-driven operation was conducted at Tarus Road in Watson Grove, Gregory Park, St Catherine, when they approached a dwelling and observed a door that was ajar. According to the police, two men were observed on a bed, and the team shouted, ‘Police’. The lawmen claimed the men moved to a corner, and one of them picked up a gun and pointed it at them. The police fired in the man’s direction, injuring him. According to the police, the second man picked up the same gun and was also shot and injured. A Smith & Wesson pistol affixed with a magazine containing six rounds of .40-calibre ammunition was reportedly retrieved. The injured men were assisted to Spanish Town Hospital, where they were pronounced dead. The Independent Commission of Investigations has launched a probe.

Newell said both men were killed in cold blood. The grieving father, who lives in a separate house in the family yard, said he was awakened by a commotion. He said when he opened his door to investigate, he saw a police team.

“I said to the police that if they had called, I would have pulled the gate. They asked me who live in the other house and I said my son. They knock him up and he pulled the door. One of the police fire a shot and one of dem say dem gun go off and a next one tell him say him can’t say that. A bare shot mi hear after dat. Afterward mi see one come through the gate with a zip lock bag. I was peeping through my window and I saw that,” Newell said. He insisted that there was no shootout.

“Neither my son or his friend fired a shot or had any gun in the house,” he added.

Giovanni’s sister pointed to a bullet hole that punctured her wall and hit her refrigerator in the adjoining room to where the incident occurred and said she is counting her blessings.

“Where the shot come through the wall is where my children’s bunk bed was. Is just a few days ago mi daughter change up the room and put the bed over the other side or one of them (bullets) could have got shot. When dem hear the shot, dem just run out dem room and come jump on my bed. If anyone did stand up beside the fridge dem would pick up a shot too. Couple shot come over my side and is just the mercy of God,” she said.

A partially bloodstained mattress and a pool of dried blood were observed inside the dwelling that Giovanni and his friend occupied. Newell said his son’s friend has been sharing living space with him for about two months and stated that he was not a gunman.

“Him come in like a nerd. Mi youngest child is 13 and him say him want to turn police and mi tell him say if mi ever hear him say him want to turn police again, mi lick out him teeth. Mi use to respect the force but right now mi don’t want none a mi yute turn police again. Mi nuh like police again,” he said.