Paul’s Avenue gunshot survivor says the police should return
A RESIDENT of Paul’s Avenue, one of the survivors of a midnight shooting that took place last Friday, July 19,2024, is asking the authorities to bring back a 24-hour police presence in the Central Kingstown community.
Palesa “Midget” Bynoe and five of her friends were shot by two gunmen who emerged from a red car in the vicinity of the Gaymes Book Store in Paul’s Avenue at midnight last Friday.
Several months ago, the police identified hot beds in various communities and in an attempt to dissuade gunmen, had placed 24hour police presence in the identified areas, one of which was Paul’s Avenue.
But Bynoe, shot three times -one of the bullets fractured her right arm, said for some reason, the police presence in her area, which has had its fair share of brazen shootings, has been removed.
Speaking from her bed at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH) on Monday morning, July 22, Bynoe said she and her friends erected a tent at the front of her roadside home where they were having a send-off barbecue for her sister’s husband, Paul Moses. He was expected to return to Canada the following day, Saturday, July 20.
She said a number of persons were hanging out earlier, including children, but when the gunmen arrived, only about 10 persons were in front her home.
“When I hear the first thing let go, I ain’t move because I think was fireworks, but after I constantly hearing it now, that is when I get up and run,” Bynoe told SEARCHLIGHT.
She said while she was running, her hand went numb and she wedged herself into a small space next to a building in the area.
Bynoe said when the chaos died down one of her son’s told her that her foot was bleeding, but she did not feel any pain at that point.When she arrived at hospital, it was found she had been shot in her back, foot and hand.
“All I did was just run, I just run for my life,” Bynoe said, while noting that she later realised that five of her friends were also wounded and luckily, had survived. They are Tesan Moses of Redemption Sharpes; Paul Moses of Campden Park; Shakir DaSilva of Lowmans Leeward; Kanaka Smith of Paul’s Avenue; and Ezekiel George of Kingstown Park.
The reckless shooting was carried out exactly one year after the Upper Bay Street, Harbor Club shooting deaths of five men, Lamont “Dutchie”
Hector of Paul’s Avenue; Dondre Hillocks of Long Wall and Belmont; Jamal “Dutty” Bobb of Ottley Hall; Rickie Taylor of Long Wall; and Kashie Primus of Rockies on July 19, 2023.
Persons are entertaining the idea that the gunmen probably thought persons were gathered in remembrance of the slain five, more specifically Hector, who was from Paul’s Avenue and lived a few feet away from Bynoe.
“That is what everybody is saying, they probably think we was having a one year for him (Hector), it wasn’t that, them man wasn’t there (Hector’s friends and family). Not one of them come up there,” Bynoe said.
She said she is frightened, and at the same time glad she wasn’t killed by the senseless act and the police presence should return.
“When the police were there, they use to be more stationed up there (where the gunmen shot from). Sometimes some of them use to go around by lotto
(National Lotteries Building) to look for WiFI or whatever.
“Police should come back, yes, for people’s safety,” Bynoe lamented. She added that when she leaves the hospital she does not think she will sit outside her home as she usually does, for fear of the same thing happening again.
“My child does be there running up and down in the road, and she was outside, but she end up go sleep,” Bynoe, a mother of six, pointed out. She said earlier, several children were playing in the street as they normally do in the close-knit community.
She said she thinks the shooters were using automatic weapons, and the men were spraying the area with bullets.
“Like they just going with it crazy. I get up, and I don’t even know how I fit between where I fit,” she said.
The police have said they are investigating the shooting.
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