BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – AT about 7:25 p.m. on Saturday (May 27), Amal Whyte of St. Johnson Village was reportedly shot to his hand and side as well as injuring his knee while attempting to flee from his attackers.
Whyte was at the time seated on the eastern mound of the Warner Park Football Stadium among a large group of spectators, including women and children, viewing a game between RAM’S Village Superstars and FLOW 4G Cayon Rockets.
Two men, Lewis Powell and Dequan Maloney, both of Upper Shaw Avenue in McKnight, have since been charged with grievous bodily harm and making use of a firearm to commit a felony.
A police communiqué had informed that the firearm used in the commission of the crime was “an air pistol/pellet gun”.
While speaking to reporters on the evening after the incident, Minister of Sports Hon. Shawn Richards stated that the Government had strongly condemned the act and disclosed that after speaking with the person responsible for the mounted security cameras at the venue, the police were able to apprehend the two young men.
The act was also condemned by many others, including former National Security Minister Dwyer Astaphan who, on his weekly Operation Rescue’s radio programme (The Operating Room), posed a number of questions and opined that there is a need for greater security at major sports events and functions in St. Kitts and Nevis.
“I am told that pellets are not lethal, they won’t kill but that they could be dangerous depends on what part of your body they hit you, hit you in the eye. So they are not to be played with. Now, as I said, while it may have been a pellet gun, and thank goodness it wasn’t something more dangerous, the incident leaves serious questions to be asked and answered. The first question is how could that have happened? How could anybody get any kind of gun, whether an AK47, M16, a Tech 9, a Glock, a 32, a 38, a 22, or whatever you call them, or even a catapult into Warner Park? How they could get any of those things into Warner Park during a football game or during any other event for that matter? Had a security sweep of the complete Park and its perimeter walls been done prior to the event?” Astaphan questioned.
He also asked if all of the gates at the Park were checked and confirmed to be secured beforehand, while noting that “one of the reports is that the two assailants came to the football game from the eastern side”.
Among the many other questions Astaphan asked were:
• Were security personnel deployed not only for crowd control and not only to sit in a van and stand up around a van and watch football, but also for general security?
• Were personnel posted and put out to patrol parts of the outer and inner perimeters of Warner Park, including the various gates and other areas of the Park, rather than all of them being positioned at the game or around the game?
• Were canines present at the facility and used on those patrols, if in fact any patrols took place at all?
Astaphan noted that earlier on the day of the incident, the Afghanistan cricket team was practising at the adjoining Cricket Stadium in Warner Park for their three-game T20 Series against the West Indies.
From that backdrop, he asked: “Was there coordination among cricket security, football security and the police and army security? Were the police and the army personnel part of that effort to coordinate the securitisation of the overall security? In fact, did the professional security personnel take a lead role?”
The former Minister of National Security also took note of the admittance procedure and asked if electronic scanners were used on fans going into the Football Stadium “or they were just being patted down, because I am told that at best, I could be wrong and hope I am, that they were just being patted down”.
In this regard, SKNVibes spoke to a number of fans who declared that, on the day in question, no electronic scanner was used and that they were simply patted down. However, on resumption of the games on the following evening, they claimed that not only electronic scanners were in place but security in general was maximised.
They also pointed out that security is normally maximised whenever there is a football match and police officers as well as military personnel could be seen among patrons and also patrolling the Stadium, but, as one fan put it: “The security people lapsed last night.”
A female patron told this publication that the perpetrators had entered the Football Stadium from the eastern gate of Warner Park which was open whilst the Afghanistan cricket team was practising.
“They came in a car and it was parked over by the Cricket Stadium. There should have been a security guard at that gate. And if the football people were unaware of access through that gate, the Cricket Association should have informed them so as to prevent breaches to the Part,” she added.
In continuation of his disapproval of what transpired on that fateful evening, Astaphan wanted to know if there is an established protocol for securing the facility.
He also laid the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Football Association, Cricket Association and the National Security Agencies for the shooting incident.
“If the two associations and the professional security people did not work out these things, or even if they did and the perpetrators were still able to get through, then there was clearly an administrative, a management and a functional failure in the two organisations and in the national security agencies.”
Astaphan intimated that the incident had done little to inspire his confidence in the Federation’s security agencies and stressed that something has to be done about it.
“Regardless of how high up the chain of command this goes, somebody or some bodies need to account for this. If you are hired to protect people and you can’t protect them, then you need to find another way to earn your daily bread. If you are charged with the duty to make the Park safe for a football game and you can’t do that, then you are part of the problem and, maybe you need to find work elsewhere,” he opined.
The Operation Rescue co-founder further said: “How can we expect you to keep the country safe when you can’t keep Warner Park safe? How you are going to keep 50,000 people and their properties safe? Some people are going to get upset with me, but I am not here to make friends. I am here to seek truth, justice, safety and progress for our country. So don’t feel that this is a personal attack.
“If this had happened at a football stadium in England or the United States or some other country, people in charge of the security, whether at the association level or the national security level, they would have resigned.”
The St. Kitts-Nevis Football Association had issued a press release two days after the incident, indicating that additional safety measures have been put in place for matches of the Final Four Playoffs, while stating that its President, Anthony Johnson, is apologising for the breach in security at the Warner Park Football Stadium.
However, the question that remains is: “Who is to be blame for the incident that could have resulted in Amal Whyte’s death and maybe injuries to innocent football patrons?
