ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Superintendent of Police Nuffield Burnette said lawmen do not have a shoot-to-kill policy with regards to their actions toward convicts or accused persons who escape lawful custody.
Following Saturday’s deadly shooting of convicted robber Trevor Jacobs Jr, by police, a number of residents lamented that officers appear to be using excessive force when trying to recapture prison escapees.
“We act according to the circumstances in each case and so we cannot say what will happen because we don’t know how any attempt to recapture anyone would play out. Yes, we had two incidents, but it does not mean this is how it will always go down,” Burnette told OBSERVER media on the weekend.
Jacobs had escaped from Her Majesty’s Prison on November 2, 2014. Five months earlier, another escapee, Avie Howell, was also shot dead when police tried to recapture him. Days after Howell’s demise, fugitive Kenroy Marshall was shot during his recapture. He, however, survived and is now reportedly under close guard at Police Headquarters.
Meanwhile, residents who called in to yesterday’s Voice of the People programme expressed mixed reactions to news that police shot Jacobs during an attempt to catch him.
The mother of the 24-year-old deceased – Jacintha – was first to call the killing unjustified. While at the hospital Saturday night, the woman said she examined her son’s body and saw seven bullet holes on it, three in the front, three in the back and one in his side, ear his arm.