Police confront crowd at Gaylord’s
The excitement in the aftermath of the Gaylord’s fire hasn’t diminished. This morning, discount shoppers hoping to make a few good buys found themselves face to face with armed police officers blocking the door. News Five was on King’s Street today and the people there say, that for some reason, the store’s owner owes them merchandise.”
“Sabby” Nunez
“On the news, we want everybody to know on the news, that they don’t want to give away the things, all they do is sell you the things.”
Janelle Chanona
“Your main problem this morning…”
“Sabby” Nunez
“For them to share the things to the people who helped put out the fire and save the building and save them some money too. Understand? That’s the problem that I have because they don’t want to give us something that we worked for.”
Janelle Chanona
“What is going to happen to the goods that didn’t get damaged by fire?”
Preeti Sadarangani
“Most of it is wet and damaged. We are barely able to save anything. I think we have to give away the damp and the damaged stuff, to the Salvation Army or to the homes you know, where people can make use of it. It’s not something that we could sell.”
Janelle Chanona
“What do you think is causing this commotion out here now.”
Preeti Sadarangani
“Because they just want to see what they could get. Everybody wants to get because yesterday, they got a lot of stuff. So we are trying, trying to get organised and put everything together and then we will give it to them.”
But the real juicy stuff was yet to come. Just a few hours later, around 1:30 to be exact, police say they received a call that a group of men was attempting to break down the wooden barrier at Gaylord’s. Harvey Ferguson, told News Five this afternoon that he was shot in the leg by police and alleges it was because he called the media to report that officers were beating up the people on the street in front of Gaylord’s. According to an eyewitness, police officers chased Ferguson through a yard on Plues Street and into an open lot on George’s Street where he was grazed by a bullet from a police officer’s gun. Our witness alleges the officer fired at Ferguson even though there were several children standing in the yard. Ferguson says that the officer who shot him had been acting funny towards from earlier in the day. The injured man is at home tonight and has not been charged with anything. He says he intends to file a complaint with the ombudsman’s office in regards to the incident. Police have confirmed that a shot was fired in the area, injuring one man but they have not identified him. Meanwhile, three men have been detained in connection with the looting attempt made at Gaylord’s. The store owner, Preeti Sadarangani told News Five this evening that the crowd became so boisterous that the owners decided to simply let the people come in and take whatever they wanted, under police supervision of course.
