Do We Still Care? Ten Months, Four Protests, No Justice: The Family of Khaleel Simon Still Waits for Answers

On August 28, 2025, Khaleel Simon turned 18 years old. By nightfall, he was dead — allegedly shot by a police officer who had responded to a call claiming the young man was in possession of a firearm. Ten months later, his mother is still asking why. The officer who fired the shots is still on the force. And the coroner has yet to open an inquest.

This is the story of a family that has refused to be silent — and a system that has, so far, given them very little reason to trust it.

"They Didn't Give Him a Chance to Surrender"

Community members and family witnesses who were present described the shooting as immediate lethal force, with no apparent attempt by the responding officer to communicate with Khaleel Simon, issue commands, or de-escalate before firing. "They didn't give him a chance to surrender. They just come and open fire," said a family member who claimed to have witnessed the shooting. "It was his birthday, his 18th birthday."

According to family accounts, the officer fired four shots at Simon. The incident occurred in a densely populated residential area — and stray bullets penetrated nearby homes where families were present, traumatising the surrounding community.

One mother discovered a bullet had passed directly through her living room, narrowly missing her son who had vacated his usual spot only moments before. Another mother, who came home feeling unwell, described being forced into a split-second choice of which of her children to grab as gunfire erupted around them.

Khaleel Simon had no convictions. His grandmother Louise George-Simon, who raised him from birth, described him as a young man full of love, who expressed his affection every single day.

"This child never have one court case. He never get one charge," she said. "If somebody report you, report him and say he have a gun… The righteous thing for you to do, report it to the headquarters or the police. Go search him. And if you find a gun and you have to arrest him, you arrest him and let him go and deal with the matter. But not for shot um up."

Meetings Without Answers

After weeks of silence from authorities, Simon's mother secured a meeting with then-Acting Police Commissioner Everton Jeffers. She came away describing it as deeply unsatisfactory. "Every question that I ask, he cannot give me nothing for it. He's just saying I cannot answer that," she told reporters. "My question to him was: Why? Give me a reason why they killed my son. He couldn't answer that. Where are the officers today? Are they suspended? He couldn't answer that."

The officer involved was not suspended. Jeffers confirmed the officer had been transferred to "sedentary duties," explaining that suspension required sufficient evidence before the conclusion of an investigation. He said a coroner's inquest was required by law before any determination of wrongdoing could be made.

Simon's father confirmed the family had to have their attorney, Wendel Alexander, write to the Commissioner before receiving any communication about the case. "There was no justification given from the police," the father said.

Protest After Protest — And Still Waiting

Dissatisfied with everything they were told, the family took to the streets. Four protests followed over the subsequent months — demonstrations that drew community support and kept the case alive in the public consciousness, even as the official investigation seemed to progress slowly.

A Former Commissioner and Retired Assistant Commissioner Both Call for Independent Oversight

Wendell Alexander — no longer a police officer but now a practising criminal defense attorney and a former Commissioner of Police — argued in a recent radio interview that the institutional problem at the heart of this case goes deeper than any single shooting. His call: Antigua and Barbuda needs an independent body to investigate allegations of police misconduct, separate from anyone connected to the force itself.

"I believe international communities, especially in England, have independent commissions and independent police authorities which are not connected to the force," Alexander said. "These incidents are investigated by that independent body. I think Jamaica has something like that. Perhaps an independent commission or independent authority should be clothed with the legal authority to investigate these matters of police misconduct."

Alexander argued that the current framework — which routes such complaints through the Office of Professional Standards, a department within the Ministry of Public Safety — does not provide the independence the public deserves.

While making public remarks on the Khaleel Simon case Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police Mr. Nuffield Burnette proposed internal reforms to accountability procedures within the police force, calling for clearer after-action protocols and reporting requirements whenever lethal force is used. Mr. Burnette further stated a police accountability board was the best way for these proposals to be implemented.

The File Has Been Completed. What Happens Next?

In March 2026, more than six months after the shooting, the Royal Police Force announced it had officially concluded its investigation into Khaleel Simon's death. CID Superintendent Lisbon Michael stated: "That investigation into that matter is now completed. And that matter will be submitted to the coroner very soon."

"Very soon" was said in March. It is now June. The findings of the coroner's inquest — the legal proceeding that will formally determine the circumstances of Khaleel Simon's death and whether any criminal or disciplinary liability rests on the officer who pulled the trigger — have yet to be disclosed.

The officer remains on the force. The family remains without a date for the inquest. And the question that Khaleel Simon's mother has been asking since the night of August 28, 2025, remains unanswered:

Why?