By Devina Samaroo
Thirty – four – year old Marlon Fredericks, the only son of Claudette Fredericks, who is the host and producer of popular morning programme – First Look – was shot dead by a rank of the city constabulary right before her eyes on Sunday, January 14.
During an interview with News Room’s on Monday, January 15, 2018, at her Vryheid’s Lust, East Coast Demerara home, the grieving mother recalled how traumatizing the experience was and called for justice to be served.
“I was inside the building, a few feet from the counter area. Then I see my son running towards the counter and towards us, he tried to leap over the counter and he didn’t make it so he ran around the counter space and come out. As he come out, it was four of us, four family members, and we tried to stop him, saying ‘Marlon, don’t run. Don’t run’,” the mother related.
However, Mrs. Fredericks said her son ran onto the street and then a city constabulary rank chased after him.
“We run outside. When I was on the pavement, I heard this shot and then I saw my son turn around and face us and then he started going down slowly against the wall of the building next door…when he start going down and the blood start oozing, mouth first then nose and so on, I start screaming. That was it really,” the grieving mother said.
Mrs. Fredericks lamented that the ambulance arrived after more than an hour after her son was shot.
“More than an hour after and yet no ambulance or anything came. Like there was no urgency to get any help for him. By the time the ambulance get there, they said they can’t do anything because there wasn’t no life.”
Marlon Fredericks celebrated his 34th birthday three months ago. Fredericks was a substance abuse addict but he was loved tremendously by his family who tried several times to give him the support he needed to recover.
He was arrested in a brutal manner on Saturday morning and was shot dead by a rank of the city constabulary on Sunday after he tried to escape custody from the Bourda Outpost. At the time of the shooting, he was unarmed.
Police said the man was arrested for several offences but his mother is unsure what crime her son had committed.
“I asked the woman (at the City Constabulary), they said they were trying to arrest him and I asked ‘for what’. They said there was a report somewhere by some woman a few months ago about some abuse but then even she said subsequently the woman said she didn’t want any police story,” the mother stated.
However, Mrs Fredericks said she heard through the grapevine that her son was arrested for another reason.
“This city police saw him and ask him for money and because he didn’t give, an argument ensued that apparently, they started to fight and so on…that was one of the first things I heard. Then I remember, two months ago he said he had an altercation with someone at Plaisance and he said it was like a police, one of the market police. So I am wondering if it’s the same police,” she stated.
Mrs. Fredericks believes son was shot whilst he was in a vulnerable position based on the post mortem results.
“We noticed the wound in his back and this morning they said the exit wound was by his neck…and speaking to a couple of people, they said it had to be he was in a crouching position for a bullet in the back to exit neck cause if he was straight, exit would have been to the front,” she stated.
During his arrest on Saturday, police said Fredericks escaped several times which resulted in a high drama chase around the capital city.
He was eventually recaptured and badly beaten in the presence of officers.
Mrs. Fredericks said despite her son’s addiction, he was an intelligent and ambitious man.
She called for those who are guilty of assaulting her son and that the officer who killed him are held accountable.
The officer who shot Fredericks, Gregory Bascom remains in police custody as investigations are ongoing.
