By PAVEL BAILEY
Tribune Staff Reporter
pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A POLICE inspector testified yesterday that security footage showed Ishido Saunders chasing and shooting at a police car before two officers fatally shot him near Golden Gates Assembly Church in 2022.
Acting Coroner Kara Turnquest-Deveaux presided as the inquest into the death of 38-year-old Ishido Saunders continued. Police shot Saunders dead on April 28, 2022, outside 20 Antigua Street after the man allegedly threatened a pastor with a knife at Golden Gates Assembly Church.
The two officers who are the subject of the inquest, Corporal Dominique Bain and PC Calvino Jones, are represented by Bjorn Ferguson.
Angelo Whitfield is marshalling the evidence.
Inspector Arnold Strachan testified that on the day of the shooting, he went to the scene and saw the deceased’s body lying by the wall of house #20. He observed that Saunders had apparent gunshot wounds to his chest and head and that the deceased was wearing a black shirt and pants.
The inspector said a black gun holster, a peach shirt, a cell phone and a silver colored wrench were near Saunders’ legs. A black Glock Austria .45 pistol, which allegedly belonged to the deceased, was inches away from his hand.
Inspector Strachan told the court there was a police Nissan car marked 308 in the middle of the street with its left rear window shot out. Spent 9mm bullet cartridges were reportedly scattered along the street.
After the body of the deceased was collected and taken to the morgue, Inspector Strachan said he got two sets of security footage of the incident from two different residents in the area.
Describing the footage to the court, he said it corroborated the report of the two officers.
He said that Saunders, wearing a peach coloured shirt walked in a southern direction. He said as Corporal Bain and PC Jones passed Saunders in their police car, the deceased stopped, pulled out a gun and began to fire at the police car. The officers sped away as Saunders allegedly shot and chased after them.
Saunders then allegedly ran into the yard of house #20 on Antigua Street, where he stayed for about three minutes, removing his shirt before trying to jump over the wall as the officers returned from another direction.
The officers then shot the suspect, causing him to fall down near the wall.
Ruth Cox, the deceased’s mother, asked the inspector questions yesterday because her son’s estate does not have a lawyer.
She asked if the footage would be shown in court. The coroner responded that it would be shown later during the inquest.
Photos of the crime scene taken and exhibited by Sergeant Damian Burrows showed the deceased lying in a fetal position on his right side in a black shirt and pants with tan shoes. Sgt Burrows said he saw a gunshot wound to the deceased’s left cheek area.
Detective Sergeant Henrington Curry, a firearm analyst, read the report of fellow analyst Sgt Terria Thomas, which said that two Sig Sauer 9mm pistols belonging to the officers could fire the 9mm cartridge casings recovered at the scene.
These weapons, which reportedly had six and nine unfired rounds of bullets left in their respective 15-round capacity magazines, were collected by Sgt Leonardo Dean after the shooting.
The .45 Glock recovered from the scene was also tested and found capable of firing bullets.
D/Sgt Curry said police do not issue .45 pistols.
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