By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A POLICE officer has been placed in custody after a Coroners’s Court jury made the rare ruling that the shooting of 27-year-old Dino Bain was homicide by murder.

Reserve Police Constable 3099 Franklyn Armbrister, who killed unarmed Bain with a single shot, must now apply to the Supreme Court for bail. The matter will be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions to decide whether criminal charges against the officer should follow.

Bain’s relatives—many in T-shirts bearing his image—cried and celebrated on the court steps after Friday’s ruling.

Court marshal Angelo Whitfield later told The Tribune the coroner could not entertain bail for Armbrister, and defence lawyer Glendon Rolle indicated he would seek an emergency bail application today. The jury took 45 minutes to reach its verdict. 

Bain was shot on December 28, 2023, in a Dean Street backyard during a police operation targeting his brother. Armbrister claimed Bain was armed and pointed a weapon, and later insisted Bain “threw the gun”, but no firearm was ever recovered.

Jurors viewed body-worn camera footage of Armbrister cursing and drawing his gun in the back of a police vehicle on the way to the scene; senior officers testified that drawing a weapon in a moving vehicle is unsafe and contrary to training, and that the officer did not identify himself before firing. The video showed officers entering a residence with a weapon still drawn, a resident warning there was a baby inside, Bain being told not to move, then running moments before a single shot was fired.

Security camera footage presented to the court showed Bain hopping a fence at 2.39pm, re-appearing at 2.42pm talking on a black phone, then running, being shot, falling, briefly lifting his head and ultimately collapsing in a pool of blood. Assistant Commissioner of Police Jason Fernander—who oversaw the saturation patrol—acknowledged the video never showed Bain with a gun. He testified he heard a single gunshot from the rear, then found Armbrister on a stone wall pointing east over a fence, saying “gun, gun. He had a gun”. He said a black cellphone lay near Bain’s head. After the shooting, footage and testimony described officers climbing a fence and moving along rooftops searching for the alleged weapon; at one point an officer is heard shouting “he threw the (expletive) gun.” No weapon was recovered.

Crime scene testimony further undercut the armed-man claim. Detective Inspector Horatio Armbrister said he photographed 28 Dean Street, collected a single 9mm cartridge casing near the fence, and saw the deceased lying in the yard of 26B. He confirmed he did not collect any firearm, was not told the deceased had a weapon, did not take measurements between the casing and the body, and received no forensic analysis of the spent casing. He described a hostile scene with many police and civilians present, and said photographs showed Bain on the ground in a green shirt and red pants pulled down to reveal his underwear, his face and shirt soaked in blood.

Inspector Henrington Curry examined Armbrister’s Sig Sauer 9mm pistol, magazine and 14 rounds, and the fired casing. He testified the weapon was functional and that the casing matched the officer’s firearm; two rounds were used for testing. Detective Corporal 4355 Deveaux photographed the body at the morgue, noting gunshot wounds below the neck and on the back; he collected blood and urine but never received lab results, which he said were for the lead investigator.

Detective Constable Clifford Bain said he heard what he first thought was a firecracker, then an officer shouted “gun.” He testified Armbrister told him multiple times the deceased had a gun; officers searched but could not find one. He also said the weapon should not have been unholstered in the car and assumed Armbrister was not in possession of a search warrant when he entered the house. He estimated three to four police units, about ten officers, were on the operation; ASP Fernander was in charge.

Medical evidence was decisive. Pathologist Dr Caryn Sands testified Bain died from a single gunshot wound to the back; the bullet entered the right back, travelled upward through the spine, lung and trachea, and exited above the left collarbone. She said the trajectory indicated Bain was bent forward and likely trying to run when he was struck; he would have suffered internal bleeding and compromised breathing and would not have died immediately. She described Bain as healthy before the shooting and said the surveillance footage was consistent with him turning to run when shot.

Civilian witnesses added weight. Bain’s mother, Marva, testified she heard a gunshot, ran through a neighbour’s house and found her son face-down in a pool of blood, watching him take his last breath as blood spurted from his mouth. Police prevented her from touching him. She said no one told her he had a weapon and she never saw a gun in his hand or nearby. His cousin, Quinton Strachan, said he was searched when police arrived, heard the shot, and despite the claim a gun was thrown, neither he nor nearby officers saw any weapon.

Other procedural gaps surfaced. Assistant Commissioner Fernander agreed on cross-examination that he had not served the warrant by the time Armbrister entered the house; the search warrant was incomplete and lacked his signature. Testimony also noted CPL Rahming called EMS but there was uncertainty about transport, and body-worn camera footage showed Armbrister passing the body without stopping in the immediate aftermath.