Desmond McKenzie Says Police Pepper-Sprayed Him After West Kingston Shooting

Member of Parliament for West Kingston Desmond McKenzie says a police officer pepper-sprayed him on Tuesday morning while he tried to calm residents after a police shooting in the constituency shortly before 7:00 a.m. Details of the shooting have not been released. Residents have alleged excessive force. McKenzie, who is also Minister of Local Government and Community Development, said he went there to ease tension and stop the situation from worsening.

"When I came, the community was very upset because they are saying men who were going to work were abused by the police," he said. He urged residents to let officers continue their work, then went to Spanish Town Road to speak with a senior officer. A crowd gathered and became noisy; he said a young woman made a remark to police, officers tried to hold her, and she ran up behind him. When he intervened, he said, an officer sprayed him. "I said it to the policeman, hold on, and then the policeman proceeded to pepper spray me," McKenzie said. People at the scene used water and milk to rinse his eyes. Video of the incident has circulated widely. McKenzie said an officer later asked if he wanted hospital care; he declined. He condemned the use of spray, stressing that even as an ordinary Jamaican there was no basis for it if he had done nothing wrong. The Independent Commission of Investigations has been notified of the shooting and has opened a probe. The condition of the person shot was not immediately known.

In separate United States proceedings, 34-year-old Jamaican Adrian Lawrence of Kingston was sentenced on July 7 to five years and six months in prison by US District Judge Joan Azrack after pleading guilty in December 2023 to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud. Prosecutors said Lawrence and others ran a scheme from October 2013 to April 2020, falsely telling elderly victims they had won Publishers Clearing House prizes and demanding money for supposed taxes and fees. At least 50 victims, average age about 82, lost more than US $5.6 million. Lawrence, arrested in Jamaica and extradited, was also ordered to pay US $5.4 million in restitution. United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nacchio and FBI New York Field Office Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle Jr. said the sentence underscores efforts against elder fraud.

In St. Catherine, detectives are investigating the fatal stabbing of Frederick Adams of Hatfield Avenue, Gregory Park, Portmore. About 12:40 a.m. on July 13, Adams allegedly quarrelled with a man at the same address; the suspect stabbed him in the upper body. Adams fled, collapsed nearby, and was pronounced dead at Spanish Town Hospital. The Caymanas Criminal Investigation Branch is handling the case.

Across St. Andrew South and North divisions between Monday and Tuesday morning, police seized three illegal firearms and 27 rounds of ammunition and arrested six men: a Glock P80 with 14 nine-millimetre rounds on Carolina Avenue, Hughenden Park; a Glock with 13 .45-calibre rounds on Carpenter Road, Hunts Bay; and a Taurus nine-millimetre pistol from a vehicle on Pen Road Terrace, Constant Spring, at 12:03 a.m. Tuesday, with four men held in that seizure.

A 23-year-old police constable charged with rape and abduction of a 25-year-old woman he allegedly met on TikTok was offered $500,000 bail in the St. Catherine Parish Court with strict reporting conditions after King’s Counsel Peter Champagnie applied. Champagnie argued the encounter was consensual and cited WhatsApp messages after the alleged incident. Prosecutors say they met on TikTok in October 2025, arranged to meet in Half Way Tree, St. Andrew, on November 29, and that he was to take her home in St. Catherine but instead went to a nearby car wash and had sex with her without consent. He was charged after a Director of Public Prosecutions ruling. The matter is next mentioned on September 22.