Mayhem on Fabers Road as Police Raid the House of Notorious Brian Brown

Before noon today, the police raided the gated-house of the notorious Brian Brown off Faber’s Road Extension.  It is the third such operation to be carried out at the residence. This morning, the squad of police officers arrived at the scene in four vehicles and in full gears, before calling on backup.  In the mayhem that ensued, shots were fired and smoke grenades were ignited as the cops forced their way inside the building to capture Brown. Several minors were milling around and one was taken by the cops and later released. But Brown, who is wanted in connection with a family feud over money, remains in custody. While family members claim he was shot and injured, the police say otherwise. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Around eleven o’clock this morning near Grace Primary School off Fabers Road Extension, what sounded like an explosion followed by multiple shots echoed in the distance. About a dozen uniformed officers, traveling in four vehicles, descended on the gated house of Brian Brown, prying open the metal sliding gate before setting off several smoke grenades within the garage area and inside the house. The thick, suffocating smoke permeated the area, affecting up to ten minors in proximity of the blast. Shattered glass bottles, windowpanes and bloodstains inside and on the cement walkway as well as expended shells, grenade pins and canisters are telltale signs that the officers were decisive in their mission to detain the homeowner. Sherilyn Gibson was at the house when the incident occurred and recounts the frightening ordeal.

Sherilyn Gibson

Sherilyn Gibson, Family Friend

“We deh ina di yard di chill, some of them deh upstairs, dehn di so wah lee mechanic thing in yah soh and all of ah sudden, we just hear boom—and when we look, dah lone smoke, dah lone smoke bomb dehn di throw in yah soh. When we look, this pull open—dehn bust the cahin for this gate—and rush up in yah soh. Lone GSU rush up in yah. By the time we look, dehn come, “oh yo no supposed to do this, yo noh suppose to do that. Then dehn rush up ina di house and shot Mister Brown. At the end of the day, why we are concern dah because lone minors deh dah this house yah; the only person weh of age dah the mother and father of the house. See all ah dehn pickney weh deh right yah, den yah dah lone minors.  All di evidence still deh yah; we no move nothing…nothing, nothing, nothing. Now supposed ina this fire one of the skids mi get hurt and dah neva he dehn ketch?”

Brown, who is no stranger to the law, was reportedly shot to the abdomen, before he was dragged out of the yard, placed in the back of a police pickup truck and taken to the Queen Street Police Station, where he remains in custody. Also taken in the raid was a minor, sixteen-year-old Rene Ayuso, who was at the adjacent residence with minors. His mother Claudine Dawson says her son was yanked from over the fence by the officers and taken away.

Claudine Dawson

Voice of: Claudine Dawson, Mother of Detained Minor

“My next son come and say mommy, GSU di beat up yo son. So I runa dn when I reach yah, I see dehn have wah bwai di tell the inspector weh come with the GSU that dehn can’t ker ahn because he is a minor, because ih just sixteen. So dehn say before I reach, my son was in the yard with some children and dehn say that the police man drag him from over the fence and point gun ina ih face. That noh right; he is just sixteen years old…he have wah ma.”

An hour and a half later, the minor was released from police custody and handed over to his mother. Ayuso claims he was physically abused by several officers.

Voice of: Rene Ayuso, Claims Police Brutality

“We mi deh ina di next property all ah we di chill. I see dehn call backup and thing and when dehn come, I just hear wah lotta grenade and gunshot di go off. So we lock up fi we house and we lock down ina di spot. Some lee kids weh deh ina di house di pass out and thing, so we open up the house and try ker dehn outside. That same one deh, when everything done, he come for me and pull me from way over the fence and dash me on the ground and the man kick me ina my face. When my ma come, dehn say dehn wah ker me. They bring me yah and when I reach in deh, all of them weh walk in start slap me. Then wah next Spanish one stamp me ina my back hard, make my face slam against a cupboard weh I mi deh. And ih just start slap up me and trip on me and tell me about he got twenty-one bullet fi me.”

This afternoon, the families of Ayuso and Brown stood outside the Raccoon Street Police Station for an audience with Deputy Commissioner of Police Chester Williams, who up to news time has not spoken with either of the families. Williams confirmed however that a family feud over monies owed resulted in the police raid on the Faber’s Road residence.

Chester Williams

Chester Williams, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations)

“The police received a complaint from the mother of Mister Brian Brown and we have been in search of him for the past two days. Several attempts were made to get him into custody, but to every time the police goes to his home to detain him, he would normally go inside and lock himself behind that high fence and would prevent the police from being able to gain access to his yard. Well today the police was not up for that. The directive was given that Brian Brown must be brought into custody and based on that the police went to the area and upon the police arrival, they began to stone the police with bottles and other projectiles. The police were very patient; eventually we were able to jump the fence and gain access to the yard. Having gained access to the yard,

Brian Brown

Brown then went inside the home and locked himself inside the home. With the use of the white smoke—it is not tear gas—the police threw that inside the house. And having done that, they gained access to the house. Brown was found hiding under the bed. He was taken from under the bed and because of the manner in which he was behaving, the police had to tie him in a sheet to prevent him from causing injuries to the police and he was escorted out of the area.”

Gibson says that the action by the police, specifically the GSU, was unwarranted.

Sherilyn Gibson

“You see people all the time di talk on the news about GSU this and GSU that or yo know. At the end of the day, that really dah noh fi we concern. But now that it hit fi we door mouth and we were actually here, we understand how it feel. We di go through it right now and we just di call out to the public if unu gone through anything with the GSU, make we put a stop to this [bleep] weh di go on cause dah overdo now. How the hell you could shot a man with live round with so many kids around?”

Duane Moody for News Five.