BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A man, said to be from the Old Road area, was shot by a member of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force last evening (Apr. 27) after failing to heed repeated calls to rid himself of a machete he was carrying.
The incident occurred sometime after 6:00 p.m. and is said to have begun along the Island Main Road in the vicinity of the Joseph N. France General Hospital.
SKNVibes received an eye-witness account of the incident according to which the man – who has been identified as Marvin Boon - was walking along the above mentioned portion of road in an eastward direction with a machete in his hand.
The eye-witness further explained that a police vehicle that was travelling in the opposite direction made a U-turn and two officers disembarked while ordering the man to put down the machete.
SKNVibes understands that the man began running from the police, while turning around and wielding the machete in the process.
Another eyewitness suggested that it appeared as though Boon had no intentions of hurting the officers but was swinging the machete as a means of fending them off.
Two shots – SKNVibes understands – were fired by one of the officers while the encounter was still on the Island Main Road at which point Boon was uninjured.
Still with a firm grip on the machete, Boon reportedly ran into the Carib Breweries compound, pursued by a male police officer who fired a single shot at him and then another as the chase progressed further on the premises. He was reportedly struck in one of his legs by that final shot.
As if that were not enough, and still with the machete in his possession, Boon ran from the Carib Breweries compound to the perimeter fence, over which he jumped and attempted to escape westbound along the Island Main Road.
However, because of his injury, he travelled only a couple of meters before sitting on the ground.
This media house understands that even in an injured state, Boon still held on to the machete which had to be wrestled from him by police officers.
He was reportedly taken to JNF where he was receiving treatment for his injury. However, the extent of his injury is yet unknown to this publication.
Additional information reaching this media house states that Boon, popularly known as the 'Jelly Man', was not only in possession of a machete but also a bag with coconuts that he left his home with to ply his trade.
Contact was made with the Police Force’s PRO, SGT Stephen Hector, concerning this incident but he indicated that he would make contact with this media house within 20 minutes, having gathered the relevant information.
The call promised by Hector was never received by this media house and an hour after the initial call was made, SKNVibes made further attempts to contact him but the calls went unanswered.
