From the front lines

At the scene this morning, residents were gathered in the streets of Westbury for  what was said to be a peace march.  Burning tyres burning, concrete slabs, tree branches and cardboard pieces blocked off the roads in Westbury. Residents walked around Westbury and went on to Ontdekkers Road in hopes of getting attention from government. According to residents in the protest, the large group had police patrolling with them for safety, it was however when the crowd came back into the community of Westbury when they lost police visibility.

The frustrated residents decided to go into the alley where the 45-year-old mother was shot yesterday; it seemed that the crowd was targeting an alleged drug dealer who lives in the court.

Within a few minutes of going into the alley, residents started screaming and running out of the area, it’s unclear as to what happen there but residents stated that people were running and screaming because there was a scare of them getting shot.

At the time police officers were not in the street and residents were uneasy about giving comment as they said that there are drug dealers within the crowd. Leaving the scene, a group of residents were trying to get the crowd out of Tambokie Court. There were women and children amongst the group and the biggest concern were that they may get shot. Residents plan on staying in the main roads so that they can have police visibility with them at all times but it seemed like angry and frustrated residents wanted to retaliate with mob justice against the people they claim to be responsible for the shootings and deaths in the community.