Mark Beckford, Staff Reporter 
Ravin rececently graduated from the Norman Manley High School. He wanted to pursue a career as a mechanic. - Contributed photos
The following is the story of Ravin Thompson, an 18-year-old who was killed by the police in what was described by them as a shoot-out, but which has been described by his family and members of the community, where his demise took place, as a wrongful death.
According to police reports, on the night of July 27, 2007, one of a group of gunmen who reportedly fired at members of a police party was fatally shot and a firearm seized on Alexander Road in the Kingston 13 area.
The Constabulary Communications Network's metro officer reported that about 9:40 p.m., a police party was on Alexander Road when a group of men was seen. On the approach of the lawmen, the men pulled guns and opened fire at them. The fire was returned and one of the men was hit. A Smith and Wesson pistol with five rounds was taken from him. The injured man was taken to the Kingston Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
However, the only thing that his family agrees with in the police statement was that he was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Other than that, Ravin Thompson's family is recounting a night that suggests his last few minutes were ones of torture, bullets, pain and eventually death.
Ravin, who was popularly known as Ravi, resided in the Bay Farm Road area of Kingston and was on one of his many trips to his aunt's house in Whitfield Town, located in the garrison of South West St. Andrew represented by former Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller.
Entirely different story
Ravin Thompson was killed under controversial circumstances.
His cousin, who was at the scene, relates an entirely different story than that of the police. She said that it was a normal Friday evening in the community of Whitfield Town, when people were out in their numbers socialising and frolicking. Ravin, she said, was at his aunt's gate playing with a younger cousin.
"You have a normal patrol jeep weh always patrol. Fi dem route dis, Whitfield Town area, and they came up and say to the guy, 'You have a guy standing at the (pan) chicken man, and they say to the guy, 'Come here!' And the guy never refer back to them at first, cause me a watch dem, because tru me know me have my cousin dem dere, me a watch fi see the jeep when it come up."
She continued: "The second time when they call out to the guy they say, 'You, inna di blue merino,' because him did have on a blue merino. Him run off to the intersection weh Ravi stand up, to the gate, cause the way the jeep turn, a jus da direction ya him coulda run inna the yard.
"An dem jus jump offa the jeep and start fire wild shot afta the guy. And you have a next guy stoop down beside Ravi, a him grab up my son cause my son was standing where Ravi was. Dem jump offa the jeep an dem run afta the guy."
According to her, Ravin was shot in his left shoulder and fell to the ground. As she related the other part of the story, pain and sadness were etched on her face.
"When me see seh Ravi drop and get the shot, me run go over Ravi, and me start cry and me say, 'Ravi! Ravi!' Me call out to him and me hold him up inna me hand. Him just a look pon me - him not even quint; him just a look pon me fi show you how him frighten. And them jus pass him. Dem neva even search him, him neva even have on any shirt and so forth, so you coulda see him waist an everything," she said.
Ravin's aunt, whom he had gone to visit, was also present on that fateful day. She said that when the incident was unfolding, she proceeded to drag her daughter from Ravin, as she was pregnant at the time. She said confusion reigned for a while as residents crowded the jeep, lambasting the police for their conduct and behaviour. She said because of a lack of transportation to the hospital, neighbours helped her to pick up Ravin and place him in the back of the jeep, as she accompanied him.
It is an action, she said, she has come to regret. "When me go inna the jeep, one soldierboy come in and say, 'Wha ya do inna dis?' So me say me a go wid me nephew, cause a me nephew, and him a say, 'Come out!' and the residents say, 'No! Stay in deh!'"
His aunt's face is very animated as she reveals the next moments. "Me hold up Ravi, and me see the shot inna him hand. Me neva see him get no shot inna him head or nuttin; me would be a liad if me say so. And going up Alexander Road, Ravi a talk to me, me a cry an mek noise an a seh, 'Oh God! Look how dem do you! Look how dem do you Ravi!' and him a seh, 'Aunty Pinky, stop cry nuh, please stop cry, me ago all right man, me ago all right.' Same time, the soldierboy tun to me an a cuss bad word, "What's it wha happen to you? Shut up you mouth in ya!', and draw me out inna Maxfield Avenue to Moore Street."
Called for assistance
Ravin's aunt made her way back down Alexander Road and called a friend for assistance to take her to the Kingston Public Hospital. On her arrival, she saw her nephew's body in the back of the police jeep, spread-eagled and lifeless.
Ravin's aunt's next actions were ones in which angry emotions took charge, as she viewed Ravin's body which, according to her, was much deformed. "Unnu brutalise me nephew! Unnu kill him, ehh! Wha mek unnu do him so ... mek him live wid him one hand, nuh," she cried that night.
According to accounts by family members of the post-mortem report and pictures obtained by The Sunday Gleaner, Ravin Thompson received gunshot wounds to the hands, leg, chest and head. Both hands were fractured, his face was severely battered and his neck and ribs were broken.
A copy of the burial order, also obtained by The Sunday Gleaner, said that Ravin died of multiple gunshot wounds.
The case is currently being investigated by the Bureau of Special Investigation (BSI). It has also been referred to the Police Public Complaints Authority. When contacted by The Gleaner, BSI head, Granville Gause described the case as "controversial". He said, however, that the investigations were progressing satisfactorily.
The Office of the Public Defender is involved in the case after Public Defender Earl Witter heard Ravin's mother on the popular radio talk show Perkins Online.
The Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights (IJCHR) has given advice to Ravin's mother, who went to them in despair. Nancy Anderson, secretary of the IJCHR, has pledged to help Ravin's family to fight the case. Representatives from Amnesty International, who are at present in the island, will be meeting with the family this week.
Adamant
Ravin's mother is adamant that her son was murdered in cold blood. She believes that the policemen and soldiers involved could have taken her son to the hospital.
"I wasn't there when my child dead, cause if I was here, he wouldn't have gone alone, I would have to go wid him.
She has expressed profound disillusionment in the Jamaican system, which she believes has failed her. The grief-stricken mother is also questioning the way the society is structured, alienating the masses, keeping them downtrodden.
