Redemption Sharpes murder suspects also persons of interest in Paul’s Avenue shooting

Comments were made Wednesday night from the Facebook account of a man wanted by police in connection with the 31st homicide of 2018.

That man, Jerroy “Jay-Jay” Phillips, a 22-year-old fisherman of Redemption Sharpes, was taken into custody yesterday, and he and three other men are being questioned in relation to the shooting death of Sabitree Lyttle, a 56-year-old domestic of Hollywood, Redemption Sharpes.

Police say Lyttle was in a family-owned provision shop located on the upper level of her house, when she was approached and shot by armed persons.

Phillips was immediately named by police as a person of interest in the matter and as his wanted poster went viral on Facebook, many persons shared the post including someone going by the name “Rena John”.

The first comment under that share came from an account with the name “Jay Jay Phillips”.

Someone using this account commented under the post, saying “ikr”, which is short for “I know right”. The comment was “liked” over 116 times.

Phillips was detained by police on Thursday morning in the Redemption Sharpes area after someone using his account said on Facebook the night before that a person is not truly bad until they appear on a wanted poster.

The person using the account also said Phillips would be getting a lawyer to take him into the police so that he could prove his innocence.

On Thursday, as reports of Phillips and two other suspects’ detention began making the rounds, it was reported that the men were also persons of interest in a shooting that took place one month ago.

That shooting is the Saturday, October 13, 2018 midnight attack which took place in Paul’s Avenue.

Four men were shot in Paul’s Avenue, with one, Len “President” Stowe, said to be originally from Bequia, succumbing to his injuries. The other men injured in the melee were residents of the area Erel “Boatie” Hector, 18, Farax “Spragga” Prescott, 40 and Dino King 48.

After the shooting, a resident of the area chastised the police for their late response to the mass shooting. The resident said that as soon as the gunshots died down, the police were called but took close to an hour to respond.

“Is like the police hear is Paul’s Lot and people get shoot so they hoping that is certain people, so they take their time to come,” the irate resident had commented.

Stowe, Prescott and King are said to be drug addicts who live in the area.

After Prescott was released from the MCMH, police arrested and charged him for five offences including theft, wounding and receiving stolen property.

On October 17, when Prescott appeared before Senior Magistrate Rickie Burnett at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court, he said he was willing to cooperate with the police in relation to the October 13 shooting case.

He told the magistrate that the police officer who arrested him was the only one “pushing it,” presumably referring to his charges. He said that the other police officers were willing to make a deal with him. He later told a journalist outside the court that he was willing to cooperate with the police in relation to the shooting incident.

It does not appear that police took up Prescott on the deal, but acting commissioner of Police (COP) Colin John later said on radio that investigators had “cogent information” about the identity of the shooters in the October 13 incident and they were looking for them.

Late Thursday, a fourth man wanted by police in relation to Lyttle’s killing turned himself into police. He is 25-year-old Rockies resident Lionel “Gubler” George.