New video contradicts police claim on fatal Beetham shooting

VIDEO FOOTAGE off the cellphone of Ornella Greaves, who was killed in Beetham Gardens last week, directly contradicts statements made by Police Commissioner Gary Griffith.

The footage shared on social media shows police officers on the scene before shots were fired and during the shooting.

During a media conference on Tuesday, Griffith stated emphatically that at the time of the shooting no police officer was around and only arrived three minutes after she was shot.

Griffith said then: “We have found video footage to show that when the unfortunate death of that lady in Beetham, we have video footage and you are looking around and there was absolutely no police officer or vehicle around that area for about three minutes until that person, until a police vehicle turned up.”

He added: “When the individual was on the ground there was no police officer around for several minutes before they arrived. I have been liaising with the Forensic department to put this as priority. We have to look at the ballistics to verify what weapon was fired and I have asked the DCP Operations Mr (Jayson) Forde to look at video footage of all police vehicles several minutes prior to her shooting and several minutes after and we are getting the weapons of all the police officers to be able to look at true ballistic testing to see if any of those weapons were fired.”

The one minute and two seconds video shows Greaves, a pregnant mother of five and other Beetham residents shouting "don't shoot". Half way into the video gunshots are heard and the protesters are seen running away, including Greaves. After a few seconds, gunshots are heard again as Greaves stands. She then screams and collapses before the video ends.

Police claimed Greaves was shot by criminals from the Beetham Gardens who fired at them while residents said they were shot at by police unprovoked. Greaves and two others were shot.

At the time of the shooting the residents were protesting the shooting deaths of three men in Morvant by police. Both shootings are being investigated by the Professional Standards Bureau and the Police Complaints Authority.

The seven officers involved in the Morvant shooting deaths of Noel Diamond, Joel Jacobs and Israel Clinton have all been suspended pending the outcome of the investigations. During Newsday's coverage of the triple killing, Assistant Sunday editor Darren Bahaw was threatened and is now in protective custody.