The Tribune

By PAVEL BAILEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A SIX-year-old boy who witnessed his father’s shooting death allegedly told his grandmother his father had his hands in the air and begged police not to shoot because children were around – a plea officers ignored. 

Police killed Tony Jamal “Foolish” Penn Smith, Valentino “T-Boy” Pratt and Trevor “Coopz” Cooper on Commonwealth Avenue in the early morning of May 17, 2019. 

Jancimae Smith, Smith’s mother, said her son’s widow and his children were in the house during the shooting.

She said when the children were brought to her, her six-year-old grandson, Tony Jr, told her how her son died. 

 She said Tony Jr told her his father asked for forgiveness from God as he stood in an upstairs bedroom when police stormed the building.

 She said he recalled his father putting his hands in the air and telling officers, “Don’t shoot, don’t shoot, there are kids in here.”

 She claimed the boy said an officer ran behind Smith and shot him in the back as another officer yelled for him to shoot Smith again. 

 She said the boy said: “Grammy, I saw my daddy take his last breath”. 

 She said her grandson also claimed that his nine-year-old brother was pushed down the stairs by police while he was drenched in his father’s blood.

 Mrs Smith told the jury that her son was self-employed and sold “cars and stuff” for a living.

 When questioned by K Melvin Munroe, who represents the 15 officers who are the subjects of the inquest, on whether she knew police wanted Smith, she said no.

 Victoria Roberts, Valentino Pratt’s mother, said she loved and cherished her only son. 

 She broke down in tears and had to be taken out of the courtroom to compose herself the first time she tried to testify.

 Later, she said around 6am on the day of the shooting, her nephew told her there had been a shooting in Blair Estates.

 She said she visited her son’s residence around 7am and saw a coroner’s van at the premises. 

 It wasn’t until 8am that a hospital friend told her her son was dead.

 She said she went to police headquarters the following Monday to get them to release her son’s body. She said she couldn’t look at the wounds on his face and that a mortician told her he had been shot about 22 to 23 times.

 She said there was no open casket funeral because her son’s two hands and legs had been broken in the shooting.

 Ms Roberts told Mr Munroe that while her son lived between her house and the mansion in Blair, she wanted him to stay away from the company he kept because she believed one of the men was involved in a stabbing at a bus stop.

 During cross-examination from Ciji Smith-Curry, who also represents the deceased’s estates, Ms Roberts said that her son’s girlfriend, Frantina Wilson, was also present at the shooting.

 She recalled that Ms Wilson told her that the pair were in a room adjacent to the garage when they heard gunshots and police screaming about their presence. 

 Ms Wilson said Pratt went under the bed and told Ms Wilson to open the door. She said when police came in, they shot him as he came out from under the bed. Ms Wilson was charged after the shooting, but the charges were dropped.

 Ms Roberts told the jury that her son was unemployed.

 Trevor Cooper, Sr, father of Trevor Cooper, Jr, said his 23-year-old son was a God-fearing and law-abiding pilot. 

 The deceased was living in Grand Bahama before his death and was said to be visiting New Providence to see his mother and grandmother for Mother’s Day.

 Mr Cooper, Sr, said he received details of the shooting from a newspaper, but that details were sketchy. He said he never got an official briefing from authorities on what happened to his son.

 He told Mr Munroe he knew nothing about the people his son was with at the time of his death and never saw the company he kept.

 He said while his son was once accused of a crime, he had been exonerated.

 Sergeant Darren Pierre, one of the officers who visited the scene, testified that between May 22 and 26, he saw and photographed the bodies of the deceased at the morgue at PMH.

 He said blood samples and bullets recovered from their bodies were sent to forensic analysis for a toxicological and ballistic report. He said he did not see the results.

 Photos of Cooper’s body showed gunshot wounds to his face, groin, chest, shoulder, hips, thighs, neck, arms, stomach and hands.

 Photos of Pratt’s body showed gunshot wounds to his face, right ear, shoulder, chest, groin, thighs, arms, lower back and hips. 

 Autopsy photos of Smith’s body showed that he had two gunshot wounds to his chest. He also had a gunshot wound to the right side of his back and a bruised lip.