‘It was a plastic gun’ - Grandma explains how teen is pictured with rifle

Michelle Dawkins, grandmother of Rasheem Wilson, the teenager who was fatally shot by members of the security forces last Wednesday is refuting claims that he was a wrongdoer.

A day after he was killed on 100 Lane, off Red Hills Road in St Andrew, photographs of Rasheem holding what appears to be an assault rifle began making rounds on social media. But Dawkins said the gun is merely a prop for a music video.

"It is him in the photographs but the gun is not real. It is a prop for a video shoot that he was in. It was a plastic gun and the video shoot take place about late December. Him was not a gunman so I want to just clear up that," she said. THE STAR has been unable to verify any further details of the alleged video shoot.

According to a report from the police's Corporate Communications Unit, Rasheem was fatally shot during a joint police military operation about 1:45 p.m. One 9mm pistol fitted with a magazine containing 14 9mm rounds were seized. The teen's death caused outrage among family and community members who staged roadblocks in protest. Dawkins said Wilson, who hails from Ackee Walk, also in the Red Hills Road area, came to live with her only a year ago.

"Rasheem come from a very big family, so him will back and forth between us. It make mi feel a way to know say is last year him come settle with us and him just come lose him life. It better him did deh somewhere else; mi feel it," she said.

Wilson was a student at the Pembroke Hall High School but there have been rumours that he was expelled last year. THE STAR reached out to the school's administration for a comment, but a representative stated that the principal was unavailable at the time. Dawkins refuted that her grandson had been expelled.

"Him quiet and him teachers can tell yuh. A just one time him and a youth did get inna fight and him defend himself towards the guy. But him teachers never have any problem because him very quiet and him have manners to me. Him was a good little boy and him listen to mi. Him wasn't expelled, is since January here him go school," Dawkins said.

She said that her grandson's death has caused a division in the family and currently she and her daughter (Rasheem's mother) are not on speaking terms. She said that she looks forward to the day when they are reunited.

THE STAR reached out to Head of the St Andrew North Police Division, Superintendent Shericka Service, for an update but she said none was available at this time.