Shooting accused is a gang member, claims police expert
A Somerset barber accused of attempted murder was named by a police expert as a member of the MOB gang.Sergeant Alexander Rollin of the Gang Targeting Unit showed the jury in Anwar Muhammad’s trial pictures of him posing with alleged fellow gang members.According to Sgt Rollin the man Mr Muhammad is accused of shooting last August 23, Princeton Burrows, had links to the rival White Hill Crew.Two men on a motorcycle approached Mr Burrows, then aged 19, near the Maximart supermarket in Sandys at 3.45pm. Mr Muhammad is alleged to have been the pillion passenger who opened fire on the victim, leaving him injured. His accomplice is alleged to have been Shawn Williams, who is not on trial.Mr Muhammad was arrested at his barber shop called Clo-Ari in Somerset on April 7 2011, on suspicion of carrying out the shooting. He is now on trial at Supreme Court charged with attempted murder and using a firearm to commit attempted murder, both of which he denies.Yesterday, FBI-trained gang expert Sgt Rollin told the trial the barber shop “is known to me to be a hangout of members of the MOB gang”. He said of Mr Muhammad: “I don’t know him personally, but I know him to be a member of the MOB gang.”Sgt Rollin showed photos of Mr Muhammad with other men including Shawn Williams and his brother Rasheed Muhammad, all of whom he described as associates of MOB. Most of the pictures were taken from Anwar Muhammad’s cell phone after it was seized by police.In one photo, he was making the letter “W” with his fingers. In another, he was making a gun sign with his hand. According to Sgt Rollin, gang members often use their hands to “throw up” gang signs.He explained that ‘W’ stands for Westside; a term used by associates of MOB. A police custody photo of Mr Muhammad showed an MOB tattoo on his right hand and a photo from his phone showed a pendant, possibly made of diamonds and emeralds, depicting the words MOB and Money Green.Sgt Rollin said MOB stands for Money Over Bitches, and the gang’s territory is everything west of the Somerset drawbridge. They have “shotcallers” at the top of the gang who give orders to lower-level “soldiers”. The gang is known for gun and drug crime and for murders and attempted murders [see sidebar].MOB’s rivals are the White Hill Crew, also known as Killer Hill, who are based elsewhere in Sandys. Other rivals are the Parkside gang, Jones Village Crew [JVC] and Southampton Rangers. MOB is allies with the 42nd crew.The expert said he did not know of Princeton Burrows before the case, but his research showed that incidents involving him that were attended by police used to centre on Parkside territory in Pembroke.However, he added: “In more recent incidents I can see Mr Burrows is associating more with the White Hill Crew, and people from the White Hill Crew but I can’t pinpoint why there was a move.”Having looked at police records related to Mr Muhammad, he noted an incident around 2008 where either the defendant or his brother was assaulted at Albouy’s Point in Pembroke. Sgt Rollin could not remember which Muhammad brother was attacked, but recalled that it was a stabbing.“When the police got there it was blamed on the Parkside Crew,” he told the jury.The case continues.
Members of a west end gang became “arrogant” after a murder linked to its members in 2008, a police expert told Supreme Court.Sergeant Alexander Rollin was describing the territory and behaviour of the White Hill Crew in evidence during the trial of Anwar Muhammad. Mr Muhammad, 22, stands accused of shooting alleged White Hill Crew associate Princeton Burrows in Sandys on August 23 2010.Gang Targeting Unit supervisor Sgt Rollin explained the White Hill Crew comprises males and females from the Sandys neighbourhoods of White Hill Field, Woodlawn Road and Farmstead Lane. The group is sometimes known as Killer Hill.“They are a loosely-organised group known for antisocial behaviour as well as the use and sale of controlled drugs,” said Sgt Rollin.“In 2008 members of the White Hill Crew went on trial for the Kellon Hill murder and since then they have had an air of arrogance about them and they have used the name ‘Killer Hill’ a lot more and it’s spray-painted on the gang turf. You can see that spray painted at White Hill and Woodlawn Road.”Sgt Rollin also described the behaviour of another Sandys gang, MOB, of which defendant Mr Muhammad is alleged to be a member. The expert told the jury that MOB and the White Hill Crew are rivals.MOB considers its territory to be everything west of the Somerset drawbridge and is structured with ‘shot-callers’ at the top and ‘soldiers’ at the bottom.“The soldiers are responsible for ‘putting work in’ which covers a variety of tasks from selling controlled drugs, protection of gang turf, carrying out assaults on rival gang members or anyone else that they might be instructed to (assault),” explained Sgt Rollin.“One of the codes of conduct is [about] if you show a sign of disrespect; that could be something against a gang member’s girlfriend or it could be a verbal sign of disrespect. It could be a fight or an assault on a gang member. Whenever that sign is shown it won’t be seen just as a sign of disrespect on the gang member but on the entire gang and it will be for those higher up in the gang, shot-callers, to call on the lower level guys to ‘put work in’, which might be carrying out an assault from a simple fight right up to murder.”Mr Muhammad denies attempting to murder Mr Burrows and using a firearm to commit attempted murder. The jury heard he told detectives who interviewed him that he is not an MOB member, but a “legitimate businessman”.The case continues.
