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Man Shot Up And Killed By Cops In The Place Called Hope
posted (July 13, 2015)
Police shot and killed a Hope Creek resident on Saturday night. Leopold Myvett was hanging out with his friends in front of a bar at around 9 on Saturday night when the police pulled up. Police say that Myvett pulled out a gun and pointed it at them - which is when they opened fire -killing him with four shots. Now the family is enraged - not only because they lost a family member but because they lost him to the hands of the law. Today we traveled to Hope Creek to get both sides of the story. Courtney Weatherburne reports.

Courtney Weatherburne reporting
On most days, these wooden benches are occupied. Friends would hang out for hours beneath the shade of this Almond Tree and then move over to the Billar Fuentes bar right in front.

But today these seats were empty and have been since Saturday night, when one member of the crew was shot and killed by police.

He is 28 year old Leopold Myvette. His niece was in this small house nearby when the shots echoed.

Jez Lizama, Niece
"I was at a house close to the bar and then we heard gunshots. It sounded like when you burst a whole belt of pop-shot one after the other. We peeped out and in front of the bar we saw a Mahindra there. Then after that we locked up the house. My friend told me to let's have a look and so then we opened the door. Then she says 'let go there.' At the same time were going out, my little brother came and told me that my mom is calling me and I ask where was she and he said at Pedro in front of the bar. I ask him what happened and he said that my son got shot."

9 shots were fired at Myvett as he tried to run from police. He was hit with 4 and collapsed at the back door of this Ebenezer church - directly behind the bar. Police then took him to the hospital but by then it was already too late.

Jez Lizama, Niece
"When we spoke to the eyewitness, his friends that he was with, they say that when the police came, the police went straight at him. If a whole set of them are hanging out, you will tell me that you will only go to one specific person, if all of them are together? That cannot happen. After that, they said that the police went straight up to him and start to fire shots on the ground. He got shot in his foot and then my uncle ran. He ran towards the church and they started to fire shots. A young man was passing with his wife and if he hadn't grab his wife, she would have been shot as well. Because they were shooting lawless."

"I heard that they claimed that he had a gun, but the police didn't find any gun on him, because the gun was at the basketball court on the other lane, in front of the bar. So, if he had a gun on him - that is telling you that from the time they shoot at him, he would have fired shots back and he wouldn't have been shot from behind."

A friend who was there with Myvett says his friend didn't have a gun and that the police just came and started firing.

Voice of Friend
"He actually was sitting down there. For 5 minutes we were there and when the police car arrived, they just come out, freeze - nobody move and they just started shooting at him. He was jumping in the air and it look like a bullet caught him and so he started to run. From there I didn't see anything else."

But police have a slightly different account

Sgt. Wilfredo Ferrufino, CIB, Dangriga
"There were several calls made to the station that there was a male person in Hope Creek Village dressed in a red shirt and short pants with a firearm and threatening persons. As a result a team of officers went to Fuentes Billar in Hope Creek. On arrival, they noticed a group of male persons on the opposite side of the street from the bar, one of which match the description that of the information received earlier and as a result the officers came out of the vehicle, identified themselves as police officers. At that point the young man in the red shirt, the one that fit the description then walked off from the remainder of the others that were there with him and the officers instructed him to stop - that they would be conducting a search on him and in doing so, he had a cup in his hand and he threw it down and with his right hand from his pants waist, he pulled out what the officers identified believe resemble a firearm and pointed it in their direction. In seeing this, the officers who had their 9mm service weapons drawn already, fired in the direction of the young man."

"We are not taking the side of the police or side of Mr. Myvette's socializing partners, but we are trying to get independent witnesses to come forward and to give us any information which would help in the investigation."

Jez Lizama, Niece
"The only thing that I have to say is that the police chance my uncle out of his life and common sense tell you that. How want to say that, it's because they don't have sense. Because they never had to killed him. One shot in his foot was good enough. He doesn't have anywhere to go from there, because if you get shot in your foot, you cannot run like how you want - that was good enough. When the police were shooting at my uncle, my brother was on the other road and the police say "kill him, kill him." That was because he (police) was speaking loud, because this lane and that lane are far apart."

Courtney Weatherburne
"How long have you guys known each other?"

Voice of Friend
"I would say like a couple of months or so. In those months I became a close friend to him. I feel it where I am right now."

Courtney Weatherburne
"You guys would always hang out by the bar and go out and just enjoy?"

Voice of Friend
"Yes ma'am. I even go at his house and hang out with him. We would drink and have fun together. We did everything together."

Myvett died at the Western Regional Hospital after 12:00 AM on Sunday. He was shot 4 times: once to the upper left shoulder, twice to the abdomen and once to the lower left thigh. Myvett had no wife or kids.

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