By ALEXANDER BRUZUAL Saturday, October 17 2009

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THIS IS WHAT COPS DID: 'Miss Charmaine', manager of Twin Mini Mart in Beetham Gardens, holds the piece of concrete which she claims was used by police...

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SEVERAL Beetham residents yesterday cried foul over the killing of two of its residents Wednesday night, saying the two young men Fabian Mauge, 26, and Ricky Roberts, 25, were murdered in cold blood by the police.

Police reported that Mauge and Roberts were part of a group which killed DVD vendor Anderson Bynoe, 36, in Port-of-Spain earlier in the day.

Officers on patrol saw a car speed off from the murder scene and officers in a police vehicle followed the car to 18th Street in Beetham Gardens.

Police claim four men alighted from the vehicle and opened fire. The police fired back, reportedly hitting three men two of whom the police claim were Mauge and Roberts. They said the third man managed to escape but was later held by the police while attempting to seek treatment at a health centre.

The fourth man is reportedly still at large. However, residents yesterday refuted the police’s version of the shooting saying the police killed Mauge and Roberts in cold blood. They said the two men were never involved in any robbery or shooting, but were in fact at a wake which was being held for a seven-month-old baby in the area. They confirmed a white vehicle had driven into the area, and a group of men had alighted from it. However they stressed, the two men who were killed were not among that group.

“Them two boys were just at the wrong place at the wrong time,” lamented Mauge’s uncle David Khan. “As soon as they were walking home the police pulled up with their weapons and started firing shots.

So they ran, the police ran them down, caught up with them, made them lie on the ground and then executed them,” Khan claimed.

They revealed this was why the residents of the area initiated Thursday night’s fiery protest along the Beetham Highway and Priority Bus Route, which caused major traffic pile ups and led to a heavy police presence in the area.

A resident, who did not wish to be identified, quietly explained, “you always hearing about police shooting somebody in Beetham, or some man getting killed by gangsters and you never see Beetham residents protest. But this killing, these two boys were innocent and did nothing wrong. They were gunned down and the community got angry,” the resident said.

Mauge’s father Wayne said: “My son had nothing to do with the DVD man’s murder, it is almost like they came on a crusade and somebody had to die. How the police went about it is wrong, and the world needs to hear how things actually transpired instead of what the police spreading to the public through the media,” Mauge said.

Residents also harshly criticized the police’s reaction to the protest, saying men, women, and even children came under the fire from batons, mace sprays, and in some cases even rocks.

Manager of Twin Mini Mart, Miss Charmaine, explained on Thursday night her store was attacked by police officers as scared persons scrambled for safety.

She recalled a group of persons were liming outside her shop when the police first came on the street to “contain” the protest. She admitted the residents were slightly provoking the police, however she said their retaliation to the enticement was unjustified.

“They began shooting at the crowd. Not in the air, but at the people who were outside by the store. These people ran into my shop for cover, and the police follow them in, throwing whatever rocks and bottles they could pick up along the way,” Charmaine claimed.

Several residents also reported police used an unnecessary application of force in their duty yesterday, claiming women and children were among those who were pushed and assaulted by officers.