Police Probes Span St Andrew Shooting, St Ann Arrest and Granville Outcry

Police say a man known as Bomber was shot dead during an alleged confrontation in Cassava Piece, St. Andrew, about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 20, during a planned operation. He was identified only as Orlando, and investigators reported that a firearm was seized. The circumstances of the shooting have not been made public. INDECOM has opened an investigation. Up to May 19, 130 people had died in alleged encounters with security forces this year, including 15 in May.

In another St. Andrew case, 21-year-old Andre Brown, otherwise called Bigs, of Fitzgerald Avenue, Kingston 13, has been charged after police captured him in St. Ann on Monday, May 18. He faces charges including murder, possession of a prohibited weapon, unauthorised possession of ammunition and using a firearm to commit a felony. Police link him to the March 1 killing of 26-year-old Tyreek P of Bertram Lane, Kingston 13, along Freeman Lane. His court date is being set.

In St. Catherine Parish Court, Lenford Ferguson, a teller from New Works, Westmoreland, received $700,000 bail with surety after an alleged Mandela Highway cocaine and ganja seizure. His co-accused, Donald, was refused bail by acting parish judge Janelle Nelson-Gale, who cited a breach of the Bail Act and said he was held while already on bail for a similar matter. The case returns on May 26.

Police say FANID members stopped a Toyota Axio about 5:25 p.m. on March 4, allegedly finding ganja and a spare-tyre package with 2.3 pounds of a white substance later identified as cocaine. The forensic certificate is still outstanding.

St. Mary police are also seeking a hit-and-run driver after a man was struck on the Haywood Hall main road near the Hampstead entrance about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. Superintendent Anthony Wallace said the victim, who was believed to be of unsound mind, died at Port Maria Hospital.

In Granville, St. James, public anger continues after CCTV showed 45-year-old Latoya “Bja” Bulgin being dragged from a vehicle after she was shot in the chest by police and placed in a police pickup. A senior officer, speaking anonymously, said police must move injured persons quickly to hospital, though they are not emergency medical technicians. Councillor Michael Troupe said the incident damaged police-community relations, while Jamaicans for Justice executive director Mickel Jackson called for clarity on JCF policy for handling wounded people. INDECOM said it is continuing its processes and will update the public when appropriate.