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Policeman tells court he was shot at during investigation

A policeman ran for his life when a shot was fired at him as he was investigating the shooting of a teenager.Detective Sergeant Jewel Hayward told Supreme Court he was called to Rambling Lane, Pembroke, early on March 26 after 16-year-old Jahrockia Smith-Hassell was gunned down.Southampton resident Royunde Stevens-Cyrus, 25, is on trial accused of attempted murder in relation to the shooting. Det Sgt Hayward retrieved bullet cases and took photographs of the shooting scene on his first visit. He returned on the afternoon of the same day to collect a bullet that had been handed in to the police.“Upon attending the scene, someone fired a shot at unarmed officers including myself, so I ran for my life basically,” explained the officer.Neither prosecutor Kirsty-Ann Kiellor nor defence lawyer Shade Subair asked him to give further details about the incident. The jury also heard from gang expert Alex Rollin of the Gang Targeting Unit. Sergeant Rollin detailed his police career, crime hot spots around the Island, and the evolution of Bermuda’s ‘loosely organised groups’ into the street gangs of today.Dandre Butler, a witness to the shooting of Mr Smith-Hassell, told the trial on Wednesday that the victim had family links to the 42 area of St Monica’s, but lived on Rambling Lane which is “Parkside turf.”Mr Smith-Hassell said during evidence that he believes Parkside were behind the attack he suffered.Yesterday, Sgt Rollin described Parkside and 42 as two of the 14 street gangs that have been identified in Bermuda.He told the jury he knows how to identify gangsters by the clothes and jewellery they wear and the tattoos they have. He also detailed the territories of various gangs and the types of crime they engage in, ranging from dropping litter to murder.