Police shooting in Trelawny leaves one dead as weekend violence and curfew protest hit Jamaica

Three men were shot, one fatally, during an alleged confrontation with police in Trelawny on Saturday night. Reports say that after 8:00 p.m. the men reportedly exchanged gunfire with officers. All three were wounded, taken to hospital, and one was pronounced dead while two were admitted under police guard. A police source said INDECOM is investigating.

Car-wash operator Samuel Foster, 59, also called Alex, was killed on Central Avenue, St. Andrew, about 8:15 p.m. the same night. A grey Toyota Axio with three ski-masked men stopped at his business; two got out, spoke with him, then opened fire with a licensed firearm. Foster collapsed and died; the gunmen escaped. Police processed the scene; no motive is known.

In Kingston, labourer Dami Stewart, 33, of Pink Lane died Saturday about 1:30 p.m. while picking breadfruit when a stick he used touched live wires. He was pronounced dead at Kingston Public Hospital. Denham Town police are investigating.

Music producer Greg Price, 47, of Grants Pen Drive, Kingston 8, was sentenced last Friday to 15 years on possession counts and life for stockpiling prohibited weapons, with parole after 10 years. He was convicted February 10 after eight imitation guns were found at his home on December 28, 2023; he said they were video props and he had no permit. Attorney Bert Samuels called the sentence a Firearms Act travesty and cited the Privy Council’s Tafari Morrison case.

A teenager was charged in the Spalding area with housebreaking and larceny over $83,000 stolen May 12. Fingerprints were lifted from a damaged kitchen window; on May 14 her mother returned $49,000 after the teen allegedly admitted the theft. She was bailed on May 15.

Moya Shaw, 32, was charged with infanticide over her four-month-old’s death on April 18 in Rockfort, Kingston 2. Police allege she threw the baby to the ground, wrapped him in a towel, and left. Residents found the body; she later fled after officers rescued another child on Orin Street. She is due in the St. Andrew Parish Court on June 1.

Brent Savannah residents protested on May 15 against a 6:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. curfew they say blocks work, school runs, and hurricane recovery trade. They said police broke up a night vigil with orders to disperse and pepper spray that affected a child, and appealed for relief for shopkeepers and single parents.