PHILIPSBURG--Prosecutors condemned a man on Friday for entering the Courthouse and sitting through a hearing with a gun in his belt.
That man was Hamilton Richardson, a well-known retiree who played baseball for many years and earned several titles. He was sitting through an appeal hearing for Island Councilman Louie Laveist on Thursday when many spotted him with a .38 calibre revolver under his suit jacket.
Prosecutor Rienk Mud called Richardson’s conduct “intolerable,” saying that, as a role model, Richardson should be more aware of his actions. “Mr. Richardson is showing a very, very bad example,” Mud said, warning that St. Maarten’s problems with gun violence are not a joke. “You should never walk the streets [with a weapon].”
His words early Friday seemed to foreshadow a shooting later in the day, after an apparent gang clash. A high school student in Cul de Sac shot at other students from a school bus with a revolver (see related story). That weapon was the same calibre as Richardson’s.
“It’s intolerable that people carry weapons into the courtroom,” said Mud, adding that he planned to address the Court staff concerning the apparently lax policy on checking persons entering hearings. “It’s totally intolerable.”
Mud had not heard about the incident until The Daily Herald called Thursday night. In response to the information, the Prosecutor’s Office checked whether Richardson had a gun permit to determine its next action.
In fact, Richardson is legally allowed to carry a gun based on a permit issued in November 2009, Mud said Friday. “He can literally walk the streets with the gun on his hip,” said Mud, criticising the freedom civilians have to carry their firearms.
He said Richardson should have shown more discretion in carrying the gun, and should not have been allowed to take it into the courtroom.
Shootings claimed the lives of five of the seven homicide victims last year.
“We as prosecutors would like to see as few guns as possible on the island,” Mud told this newspaper.
This newspaper could not reach Richardson on the phone Friday for comment.
