The father of a 24-year-old construction worker shot dead by police in Tobago\u2019s Buccoo district has accused officers of murdering his son, calling for justice after the incident on October 8. Jamal \u2018Shilo\u2019 Clarke, a resident of Buccoo, was one of two men killed when police opened fire on a silver Aqua motorcar travelling along Golden Grove Road shortly before 6 p.m. The other suspect died later at Scarborough General Hospital, while one officer was injured in the exchange.<\/p>\n
Clarke\u2019s father, Levi Clarke, told the Trinidad Express that his son was unarmed and had no criminal record. He described the moments before the shooting, saying his son had just returned home to relax with his younger brother before going for a bath. \u2018He take out his clothes, we sit down relaxing… laughing and talking, not knowing it was the last time I was seeing my son,\u2019 Clarke recounted. He questioned how police could justify shooting an unarmed youth, given the disparity in firepower, and demanded evidence of a weapon.<\/p>\n
\u2018Every youth man them does have their ways, but he had no gun or nothing like that they talking about,\u2019 Clarke said. \u2018I want justice for my little youth man. They murder my youth man… how could a youth man with one gun see police with so much weapon and look to fire on them?\u2019 He also expressed disbelief at the brutality of the shooting, describing his son\u2019s body as \u2018like a zombie, blood running down all my son\u2019s face.\u2019<\/p>\n
Clarke plans to file a complaint with the Police Complaints Authority, insisting justice must be served. \u2018They murder my youth man, but God is the boss,\u2019 he said. \u2018I will get justice.\u2019 The incident marks the first police-related killing in Tobago this year, bringing the national total to 33 for 2026.<\/p>\n
Police confirmed the vehicle was under surveillance and that Clarke was \u2018known to them,\u2019 though they did not elaborate. Senior Superintendent Rodhil Kirk stated that the second suspect\u2019s identity would be released once relatives confirmed the body. Local representative Keigon Denoon expressed sadness over Clarke\u2019s death, calling for vigilance against crime while condemning the loss of life.<\/p>\n
The tragedy has left Clarke\u2019s 15-year-old son struggling to process the loss of his brother. The family\u2019s grief underscores growing concerns over police use of force in Tobago, where allegations of excessive violence persist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A grieving father holds a photo of his son, killed in a police shooting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trinidad-and-tobago"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}