The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

THE fatal shooting of a man by police during an arrest in a Gamble Heights shanty town continues to haunt family members as they struggle to understand the circumstances that led to his death.

Relatives told The Tribune they could not comprehend why Nixon Vixamar, 30, was shot by the police who visited his home at Sunrise Road off Baillou Hill Road South early on Friday morning.

His sister, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “He was unarmed. Why would they need to shoot an unarmed man? If a person has a weapon then police have the rights, but he was inside sleeping when they came. When he ran he only had his boxers on, no shirt, nothing, and they left him there in the dirt like a dog. It’s like they just don’t care.”

Assistant Commissioner of Police Stephen Dean said that officers visited Mr Vixamar’s home shortly after 6am to find a man who was wanted for several complaints of assault. ACP Dean said the suspect began to resist violently and was subsequently shot in his upper thigh.

The shooting has been forwarded to the Coroner for further investigation.

Mr Vixamar ran through the shanty town after he was shot, according to relatives, who said he fell to the ground and called out to family members for help.

“He called my name over and over because he heard me crying,” said Mr Vixamar’s niece. “I could hear my uncle calling out my name, this was over an hour after he was shot. The police wouldn’t let anybody go near him. He died on the ground just like that.”

She said: “It would have been better if he had died in a hospital, but they just left him there on the ground. When the ambulance finally came, he was already dead.”

His niece said that one of the police officers involved in the incident on Friday had come looking for Mr Vixamar the previous day. At that time, it was said that he ran away when he saw the police and the officers gave chase.

As for the assault complaints, Mr Vixamar’s sister acknowledged that her brother had a tumultuous relationship with his girlfriend. “His girlfriend and him were always rowing,” she said. “She was always calling the police and they would come, and then the two of them would be together again that same night. So, as his sister, I couldn’t say nothing about it, they were mad in love, and now it looks like mad in love is what cost him.”

Mr Vixamar’s shooting comes two months after the death of his father and the death of his brother in a construction-related incident earlier this year. He would have been 31 on Saturday.

According to his sister, Mr Vixamar was born in The Bahamas and had applied for a Haitian passport under the new immigration policy. She questioned what would become of the investigation into his death given the immigration status of many of the residents in the community.

At the scene, a large crowd of grief-stricken loved ones and angered residents gathered to protest the shooting. According to ACP Dean, a police car was struck by a boulder, damaging its windshield. When The Tribune visited the area several hours later, Mr Vixamar’s home had been burned to the ground. However, Mr Vixamar’s family insisted that there was no riot in the wake of his death.

His sister said she did not know what happened to her brother’s home, adding that it had been burnt along with all of his belongings while she was at the police station.