A mother is crying out for justice after her son was shot and killed by police during an operation. The deceased, identified as Franklyn Hyman, was killed in White Hall, St Thomas. Police apparently went to Hyman’s residence Tuesday morning, and a resident filmed the incident unfold, showing the distressing moments leading up to the man’s death.
The footage has since been circulating on social media, highlighting what the family believes to be an unjust killing. In the video, several police officers surround a house that Hyman is said to be in. The female resident filming pleads for Hyman to exit the house and urges a policeman to allow him to come outside, to which the policeman seemingly asks her why he should do that.
The woman continues to shout, encouraging Hyman to come outside, and becomes distressed. Amid her pleas, a voice can be heard, shouting “leggo offa mi gun,” which the public speculates is a policeman warning Hyman to release his weapon.
Seconds later, multiple shots are fired, prompting the woman to start crying. Later in the video, four police officers can be seen lifting a boy and walking towards police service vehicles while the woman expresses that he was killed wrongfully through her tears.
According to the Jamaica Observer, while the St Thomas police confirmed the incident, they did not disclose any details about it. Hyman’s mother, Shanna Johnson, told the news outlet that her son was killed for “nothing”. She expressed that he is a “hard-working boy” and indicated that the police targeted him.
“He’s a hard-working boy. Dem come here last week, Tuesday, searched him, go over his yard, threatened his girlfriend to go home cause it nah go pretty,” she told the news outlet. She added that the police returned on Thursday and took him for questioning but kept him for five days even though nothing came from the question-and-answer session with CIB (Criminal Investigations Branch). Johnson said her son was only able to go free because she sought the assistance of a lawyer.
The distraught mother said that when the police came on Tuesday, she was at her home, which is also in the community, and they did not allow her to go to her son’s residence.
“By the time I was down here, mi hear the shot dem…Dem kill mi pickney fi nothing, nothing, nothing at all. Him nuh do nothing,” she said, adding, “Nothing cyah go so, justice fi come inna dem something yah.” Johnson claimed that the police previously threatened to kill her son.
