A YOUNG woman sat with her dead teenage brother as rubber bullets and teargas were allegedly fired at a crowd of Hanover Park residents baying for the blood of a man they thought was behind the young man's murder.
Stones were hurled at the police in Rywood Walk shortly after the death of Reagan Jaggers, who was gunned down when he stepped out of his Erie Court home to investigate after hearing a shot fired nearby.
Officers on the hunt for Jaggers' killers had arrested a man wanted for a separate murder and had pulled up near the family's home when a resident claimed the man in custody, seated in the back of the police van, had been the one who had shot "Chiney".
"After that, it was chaos," Jaggers' sister Manecere said.
"People who had known my brother - neighbours, grown women, friends, everyone - stormed at the vehicle, wanting to get the man out. It was like a riot."
All the while, she sat next to Jagger's body as the investigation of the crime scene was temporarily suspended.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Andre Traut said, during the "altercation" with residents, the suspect identified for the murder managed to escape.
An officer was hit with a stone and another was bitten during the attack.
Traut said action was taken to prevent injury to the police members, but would not confirm if the crowd was sprayed with teargas or shot with rubber bullets as they had claimed, saying these details would form part of the investigation.
A video, capturing the officers running away as men approach them, also circulated on social media platforms on Tuesday.
Shortly after 12pm Manecere and Reagan heard a single gunshot being fired.
"It was almost time for our baby brother to come home from school, so Reagan went to look what was happening outside. Just after he stepped out the door, I heard another shot, then someone shouting that 'Chiney' had been hit," said Manecere.
Her mother was the first at the scene, followed closely by Manecere.
"He was still alive when I sat down next to him. He had been shot in the chest and his eyes were open, but he wasn't responding. I kept telling him, 'Don’t close your eyes; don't go'. But eventually, he did."
Jaggers' body lay there for four hours while police investigated and waited for pathologists.
