Point Fortin man killed in shootout with police

Senior Reporter

kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt

Relatives of Kellon Branker, the La Brea labourer who was killed in a police-involved shooting yesterday, have denied police claims he was a suspect in a recent homicide and was in hiding at the time of his death.

“Kellon was not hiding. Kellon does be all over the place,” his teary-eyed sister, Tricia Branker, said in an interview at the family’s home in Vance River.

Branker, 24, a father of one, was shot multiple times in the incident near Sieunarine’s Bar on the Guapo/Cap-de-Ville Road, Point Fortin.

Police said officers, who were on patrol around 1.20 am, spotted Branker liming. He darted across the road on seeing them and officers chased him into nearby bushes and reported hearing several loud explosions. Fearing for their safety, they fired several shots and subsequently found Branker lying motionless on the ground with a Beretta pistol next to his right hand. The weapon contained three rounds of 9 mm ammunition.

District Medical Officer Dr Maharaj pronounced Branker dead at the scene and ordered the removal of the body to the mortuary of San Fernando General Hospital for a post-mortem.

Branker’s sister expressed regret that her brother was not there to tell his side of the story.

“At the end of the day, he is dead, but Kellon has a family. Kellon is loved, and we will miss him. It is sad what the world has since come to. Apart from all the crime in the country, the people responsible for solving crime, it is sad that they are part of the problem,” she said.

She described Branker as a lovable person, and admitted that he had done wrong in the past and had a matter in court. However, she believes the police could have handled the incident differently.

“They did not have to kill him. It is not that the police were in danger or he was any threat to anybody. They know he ran, and so what? He ran. They could have caught him another time. They did not have to kill him,” she said.

Branker leaves behind a four-year-old daughter who does not understand that her father is dead.

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