Etana Gets Teary-Eyed Over Police-Involved Shooting Of Mentally Ill Cousin

Grammy-nominated Reggae artist Etana is bewailing the shooting of her mentally ill cousin ‘Stenna’ this morning in August Town, St Andrew, allegedly by a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). According to reports, a police constable was also shot and injured during the incident, seemingly by the same bullet.

Etana—who had dedicated a 2014 song to Stenna which alluded to a police shooting— took to Twitter and Instagram Live on Sunday to outline the incident that was relayed to her by Stenna’s mother.

“I love Jamaican police because for the most part they do their jobs but this morning at five am police shot my cousin Stenna, even with people shouting that he is mentally ill. Are people less than a dog? Stenna (ward 21) (august town),” read The Strong One’s first tweet.

Reports are that during a police operation in the Bottom River area of August Town at about 5:50 am, a man allegedly armed with a knife attacked a member of the police party.  A member of the police team reportedly discharged a round from his service rifle in the direction of the man, who fell and was found to have been shot in the lower abdomen.

The knife, according to police, was then retrieved and it was subsequently discovered that a police constable had also been shot.

Both men were rushed to the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) for treatment.  Investigations are ongoing into the incident.

However, according to Etana, Stenna was unarmed.

“Stenna is no gun man and never was, he was a mechanic before he got sick. He is MENTALLY ILL, he runs away when he sees the Jamaican police because he thinks the community police are coming to give him his medication. Also, in that part of August Town there is no war. So why was the mentally ill man shot! Him never have gun, no knife, he ran away!” she wrote in the caption of a teary-eyed Instagram Live video.

On Twitter, she said members of the August Town community actively tried to dissuade the cops from shooting ‘Stenna’ during the incident. 

“My aunt calls the police when the nurse cannot get to him. The police comes and helps the nurse to give him the medication. When he sees police he takes off. The people in the community was shouting “a mad man” “him sick” don’t shoot him. And the police shot him anyway!!!” she explained in one tweet.

“I don’t want anyone to be confused. Every month or three mth the nurse comes to give him a shot. So he takes off when he sees them coming. The police were on patrol!!! Nothing to do with him getting the shot. And not from the community,” she added in another tweet.

Ward 21

The songstress had dedicated her track, Ward 21, otherwise known as Stenna’s Song, to her cousin. It formed part of her fourth studio album, I Rise, which was released in 2014.

In the first stanza of the song, it is almost as though Etana predicted the incident.

“Ward 21, is where Stenna gone lie down/…Remember Stenna build him pool inna the riva bed/ String up big sound and a hol’ a medz/ Then police get bad news come starting to shoot…,” she sings.

Ward 21 is a reference to a psychiatric ward at the University Hospital of the West Indies.

In the Instagram video, Etana further questioned the reasoning behind the cop’s alleged actions.

“If someone does not pose a threat to anyone; not to the police, not to the people inna the community, and he’s running away..him nuh dead enuh, him inna the hospital. But it is a life. It’s like, you see a dog a run. Yuh nuh see the dog a bite nobody, yuh nuh see the dog a attack nobody…the dog a run, and you shoot the the dog. Everybody aguh seh, ‘suh weh him shoot the dog fah? Afta the dog nah trouble nobody.’…you just shoot the dog cause the dog a run…”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZ7HIkXpl51/

The August Town singer concluded by compelling Jamaicans to be more compassionate towards the mentally challenged. At the same time, she’s calling for an end to the prejudice displayed between members of the upper class, and other citizens.

“We need to do a lot more to take care of the mentally ill. As mi seh, Stenna is known to be somebody kind and caring, and loving and sharing…he was a mechanic, and even now, when he’s in and out of his mind, he still works. Cause one thing, he’s never lost his skill…Yuh ever hear them go uptown and shoot nobody mentally ill? In the garrison, I don’t know why they think that people should be treated less than human…if dem did eva shoot somebody uptown enuh, the place woulda tun ova,” she added.

Etana’s latest album Pamoja is among six projects vying for a Grammy Award in the Best Reggae Album category at this year’s awards to be held in April.