BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE shooting-death of 17-year-old Philo Wallace of Hamilton Village had and continues to initiate much debate on the airwaves, and his father and other family members as well as many citizens and residents of Nevis are calling for justice.
As a result, many individuals had contacted SKNVibes requesting the launch of an investigation to reveal what really occurred on that fateful morning in Enrique Bar.
The challenge was accepted and this media house, in collaboration with a group of concerned citizens on Nevis, launched an investigation which produced some very startling revelations.
Background
According to reports, at approximately 3:45 a.m. on Saturday, October 17, 2015, there was an altercation at Enrique Bar in Charlestown, which resulted in Wallace being shot and a police officer had suffered an injury to his head.
Wallace was rushed to the Alexandra Hospital where he was pronounced dead half an hour later.
The wounded officer, who was off-duty at the time, was said to have used his service firearm that killed the teenager.
Following the incident, the Police High Command held a press conference on Monday (Oct. 19) and had informed the media that investigations would be conducted by the Violent Crimes Unit and the Office of Professional Standards.
That decision did not go down well with many people, who voiced that the police should not investigate their own, but the High Command had promised that the police’s investigations in the matter would be thorough and transparent.
The officer was sent on sick leave and has since returned to his place of work. But, unlike the belief of many that he had resumed active duty, Acting Commissioner Stafford Liburd had cleared the air on that.
“The Constable who is involved in the shooting-death of Philo Wallace is not on active duty. He is presently on administrative leave, but he is very much restricted while on that leave. The restriction on that leave does not permit him to be around in certain areas of the Police Force.”
The Top Cop also informed that a Coroner’s Inquest is scheduled to be held.
“We are biding, waiting for the Coroner’s Inquest to be held, but I cannot say how soon. However, we will try to advance it as quickly as we can.”
The Investigation
The investigation by this media house and the group had led to a number of individuals, some of whom claimed to have been present when Wallace was shot at Enrique Bar, while a few of them swore to have seen him earlier at the Lime Beach Bar on Pinney’s Beach.
The investigators had encountered some degree of difficulty in getting the individuals to speak about the incident. They all asked to remain anonymous, stating that they are fearful of losing their lives.
A number of individuals claimed to have seen Wallace earlier dancing with a girl at the Lime Beach Bar.
“She is the same girl that he was dancing with at Enrique Bar, but I can’t say if they had left the Beach Bar together to go there. What I am certain of is that she is the same person Philo was dancing with at Pinney’s Beach,” one individual said.
A young man, who said he knew Wallace but not as a friend, claimed to have witnessed what happened at Enrique Bar.
“I was in the same bar dancing when Philo was shot. Many young people were there dancing and Philo was one of them. I was about 10 to 12 feet away from him while he was dancing with a girl. Suddenly a fight broke out between a man and a girl from Barnaby side, but that matter was quickly resolved.”
He continued: “Shortly after that, I saw the girl who Philo was dancing with pushed him aside. I later learnt that she did that because she had seen the officer from a distance coming into the bar. I saw when the officer came in and he went straight to Philo and pushed him, and Philo pushed him back. It was no gang fight as some people have been saying; it was a pushing contest between Philo and the officer who did not identify himself as a member of the Police Force.
“The next thing I heard was bam. It sounded like a gunshot and I thought maybe the bullet didn’t catch anybody. But the next thing I saw was somebody staggering. It was Philo! He was shot straight to his chest and he fell on the ground by the doorway with the upper part of his body outside and his feet inside the bar.”
The young man explained that after realising someone was shot, pandemonium was the order of the day as many patrons ran in the bathroom while others headed towards the doorway and some of them stepped on the injured teen.
He too exited the bar.
Another young man, who also claimed to have witnessed the shooting incident, said he overheard someone who was dancing with a girl near to Wallace rebuking the officer.
“Me hear when a guy who did dancing a few feet from Philo telling de officer that he wrong for shooting the youth. Me hear de youth ask he, ‘You kill a man for a woman boy?’ And the girl who this thing started over say, ‘You don’t know what he do.’
“All this time the officer had he gun in the air like if to say nobody coulda do he nothing. The youth was still arguing with the officer when somebody throw a bottle from inside the bar and it hit the officer on he head. Some people does only talk, they wasn’t there to know who throw the bottle, yet them claiming Philo and the officer had a fight and is Philo hit he with the bottle. A next thing is that the bottle bust he head and it happen outside the bar and not inside as some people believe. It wasn’t no fight...is push the officer push Philo and Philo push he back and he tek out he gun and shoot the man.”
A third individual confirmed what were said and explained that shortly after the shooting incident, “somebody pick up Philo and took him to the hospital. A police car then came up and an officer approached the other officer who shot Philo and took the gun from him. It seemed as if he had regretted what he did because he was visibly shaking from head to toe”.
The individual also said that after relieving the officer of the firearm, other officers placed him in the car along with the girl and drove towards the Charlestown Police Station.
Despite the many pleas for these young men to come forward and give the same information to the officers who are investigating the matter, they remained resolute in their stance, stating that “this will have some serious repercussions...we don’t want to be targets of death”.
They however claimed that the police investigators could get the facts from one of the employees at Enrique Bar, while pointing out that “they will get the same story that we told you”.
Questions
After analysing what they young men told SKNVibes and the group of concerned citizens, the following questions came to the fore:
1. Did the officers interview patrons when they visited the scene and allegedly drove away with the Constable and the girl in question?
2. What nature of relationship did Philo Wallace have with the girl?
3. What relationship exists or existed between the Constable and the girl?
4. Was the girl the Constable’s ‘main squeeze’, child mother or someone he and Wallace were seeking to have a relationship?
5. Did Wallace and the Constable had any previous encounters?
6. Were Wallace and the girl followed after leaving Lime Beach Bar?
7. Why was the Constable not arrested after it was learnt that he shot Wallace?
8. Did the police investigate the girl in question?
9. Was the Constable authorised to carry a firearm while off-duty?
10. What is the Police Force Gun’s Policy?
11. Was a background check done on the Constable?
These questions and many more have surfaced, and answers to them can only be had at the Coroner’s Inquest which Acting Commissioner Liburd said is in the making.
