REAL NEWS: The young man who was shot by the Police on Thursday, August 31 – in full view of the public – allegedly has been experiencing mental- health issues for some time and was once a patient at the Clarevue Psychiatric Hospital.
Sources say he was discharged after the reported intervention of a close relative.
According to reports, it was only four days ago that Rashawn “Turtle” Shabazz was released from His Majesty’s Prison. There, he had been in solitary confinement due to his condition and perceived violent tendencies.
Thursday’s altercation with the Police allegedly began in the Perry Bay area where, reports say, he was being a nuisance. Allegedly, Shabazz was armed with a long knife and was picking up stones and pelting them at individuals.
Apparently, the Police were called to defuse the situation. But when Shabazz reportedly became confrontational, he was shot – initially with rubber bullets – to subdue him.
However, this did not take him down, and the altercation continued onto the Valley Road, in the vicinity of the service station and the Central Marketing Corporation. There, Shabazz was seen picking up a stone, which he pelted at one officer, striking him in the head. In a widely circulated video, the policeman can be seen drawing his weapon and discharging three shots in response.
Shabazz was hit – how many times is not clear, however. But evidence of his injuries was visible on his shirt, where blood could be seen in the lower back and abdominal area. Sources tell REAL News that, after being taken into custody, Shabazz underwent surgery, allegedly losing a kidney to damage by a bullet. People are now asking why the young man – who is known to have mental-health issues – was released from prison in that fashion, instead of having him admitted to the Clarevue Psychiatric Hospital for treatment.
This did not happen because a relative of the young man reportedly had been untruthful about a number of officials, including those at the psychiatric hospital and now-suspended Chief Magistrate Joanne Walsh. Reports claim that, earlier, Shabazz’ relatives had sought the assistance of a government official in having him discharged from the hospital, claiming they were sending the young man to Dominica. However, reportedly, he never left this country.
Shabazz has been in trouble with the law over several years, allegedly since he was a teenager, and has been in and out of prison.
Sources claim he was involved in a number of incidents at the penal institution – including the April 2021 stabbing of a prison officer with a makeshift weapon, multiple times, seriously injuring him. In that instance, Shabazz reportedly was charged with unlawful and malicious wounding. On another occasion, Shabazz reportedly made attempts to escape from prison by jumping the 30-foot wall; but he was immediately recaptured.
Now, sources say that a relative is claiming that society has failed the young man. The Police have promised, but are yet to issue a statement on Thursday’s shooting incident.
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Society has failed him? Powerful.
in wat wayyyy you all love defend mental ppl like that, do u remember the innocent by standee who was standing at the casino an. the man in front of him took a knife turn around an stab the man in his side then on court day he say he didn’t know the man but a voice in his head told him to stsn him???
do u remember????
smh the police should a give him 10 shots an pur him out of his wicked misery I will not defend mental I’ll person. they are dangerous
Knew him before he became like this, he was in cadets, going up in ranks, next thing I heard was he was in jail in 2010, and he was shot in jail, and I believe it was covered up, therefore the government is responsible, since soldiers trained him, then he was jailed for something maybe violence, and shot in jail(which had seemed personal at the time) and now it’s escalated to this
That man is a tret to society and should remain in solitaire confinement at all times.
TOTALLY AGREE!!! why is a mentally disturbed individual allowed back on the street? If a psychiatrist has deemed him unfit to be among the populace, who can make that decision to set him free?? Dunce people muss run these places!
smh he could a killed someone I can’t believe they have person like these walking the streets smh this makes me fear for my life walking in town because I dnt know who is who
Fah real!!! And they kill innocent people and gone crazy house!
my question is if he is mentally ill and a threat to society why release him to go Dominica to endanger other people’s life when the know absolutely nothing about his past history and what he is capable of?
it looks to me like it would either be he kill or damage someone or vice versa
Again, the ministry of health must be held accountable. They are the main agency with responsibility for these issues. Many relevant questions were asked by the commentors of this article. Why was he in confinement at the prison? That is one of the worse things that can be done to a person with mental illness. Why was he released from the prison without a proper follow up plan? Was he getting psychiatric care while at prison? Why wasn’t he admitted at Clarevue in the first place instead of being sent to the prison? If a person commits a crime and is then found to be suffering from a mental illness where should that person be sent, to the prison or to Clarevue? Who makes that determination? Is prison equipped to deal with such persons? Again, the ministry of health has the ultimate responsibility of getting all stakeholders together to ensure that people like Mr. Shabazz does not remain a threat to himself or the general public.
To be continued…
Consider yourselves lucky, in Milwaukee WI an individual robbed a drug dealer, the deal went wrong and the drug dealer was shot and killed.
The killer got 5 years probation and some community service…for murder.
Why not shoot in the leg ? Why 3 shots and not one … he belongs to the state because of his mental illness… this shooting was unlawful … antigua lawyers need to start helping poor people sue the government… they could have killed the young man .. lock up the family member also him and the police .. both are responsible
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