Mid-week Jamaica police brief: UWI gate shooting, Falmouth service vehicle crash, lock-up smuggling attempt, Shrewsbury acquittals, St. James domestic violence alert, ODPM donation audit

A woman was shot in the leg on Tuesday afternoon near the main entrance to the University of the West Indies after an argument with a taxi operator escalated, police and early accounts indicate. Around half past four, the woman is said to have used a knife against the driver. An off-duty officer who was nearby stepped in, gave orders that she reportedly disregarded, and then fired when she moved against the driver again. She was admitted to the University Hospital of the West Indies. The Independent Commission of Investigations has been notified and the Jamaica Constabulary Force is probing the episode.

Five Trelawny-based constables—three men and two women—suffered slight injuries on Wednesday morning when the service vehicle they were using flipped on the Foreshore Road in Falmouth while they were heading toward Montego Bay for range practice. The mishap occurred close to a quarter past seven after the driver lost control, a police source said. All five were assessed at Falmouth Public General Hospital.

Officers at Nuts River Police Station detained a 19-year-old hairdresser and a 30-year-old labourer on Tuesday after spotting suspicious movement at the station yard. Inmates were seen tugging an object through a cell opening; it dropped to the ground and turned out to be a clear plastic pouch with six cigarettes. Eldor Richards, said to be from Haywood in St. Mary with an Exchange, St. Ann address, and Romeo Forbes, said to be from an Ebony Hill Gate address, were charged. Another person ran off and remains wanted.

On Wednesday, after a four-week Supreme Court trial, Constables Damian Campbell and Kenroy Hines were formally acquitted on three murder counts tied to the March 15, 2013 shooting deaths of brothers Andrew and Tristan Britson and their cousin Kinsey Green at a shop in Shrewsbury, Westmoreland. Two firearms—an AK-47 rifle and a handgun—were recovered where the three men died. Years of community tension had moved the case through Trelawny Circuit Court and Kingston before it reached the capital’s Supreme Court. When the prosecution closed, defence teams led by Peter Champagnie, KC, Samoi Campbell and Isat Buchanan for Campbell, and Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, KC, and Aaron Lewis for Hines argued there was no case to answer; the trial judge agreed and directed not-guilty verdicts.

St. James police say domestic and other intimate-partner rows are driving a heavy share of parish homicides. Senior Superintendent Aaron Samms, the divisional commander, pointed to the killing of 35-year-old Melissa Samnoff, a Jamaican who also held United States nationality, and named Dane Watson as a person of interest. Samms said twelve murders recorded since January stemmed from interpersonal conflict and urged neighbours to alert police early. In a recorded appeal he said, “We are very saddened that you know many of these incidents are emanating out of interpersonal situations and we are very appalled that we have so many violent incidents surrounding women. Most of our um murders, in fact, 12 of our murders since the start of the year have been due to interpersonal incidents. And we want to appeal to the residents of St. James. When you have um or hear about these situations that are interpersonal in nature, maybe domestic violence, maybe just in one-on-one persons um having their disputes, let us know so that we can intervene to try and avoid um any of these incidents evolving into murder.” He added that a Catherine Hall probe had yielded a murder charge against a woman in custody while the search for Watson around Montego Bay continued.

Tabling a real-time audit in Parliament on Tuesday, Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis said that by February 23, 2026, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management had spent only about $26 million—roughly 1.8 percent—of roughly $1.44 billion in cash gifts meant for Hurricane Melissa relief, leaving about $569.6 million Jamaican dollars and US$5.9 million on deposit; those balances were unchanged on the April 2, 2026 draft-report date and included legacy cash from Hurricane Beryl collections. Monroe Ellis said ODPM gave no consolidated totals or spending blueprint for Melissa, so auditors could not tell whether idle balances reflected ongoing work or slow execution; she also flagged weak delivery paperwork on roofing supplies channelled through the Jamaica Defence Force and missing payment proofs on major supplier contracts, leaving about $141.1 million in committed roofing spend without verified cheques as at March 31, 2026. ODPM’s April 2026 reply blamed the slow drawdown on missing Ministry of Finance authorisation to spend.