Police shootings, airport fatality and fugitive deportations lead Jamaica crime roundup

INDECOM is examining two police shooting incidents that occurred Wednesday in Kingston, including one in the Craigtown community in which a father and son were wounded, and another in downtown Kingston where an unidentified man was killed.

In the Craigtown matter, police said a 22-year-old man and his father were injured during an alleged armed encounter with officers and taken to Kingston Public Hospital. Investigators were told a 9mm pistol, a magazine and one cartridge were recovered. Videos circulated online appeared to show female relatives trying to shield the younger man as police sought to move him after the shooting. INDECOM also processed a scene at Princess Street and Charles Street, where another man was fatally shot during a police operation. The deceased had not been formally identified. Since January, INDECOM has been probing 131 fatal security force shootings, including 16 so far in May.

In St. James, a United States resident was shot dead by police after reportedly breaching security at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay. The man was said to have been seen near the airport’s fuel storage area before police were called. He allegedly attacked officers and was shot, then pronounced dead at Cornwall Regional Hospital.

Police in St. Ann arrested five men Wednesday night after a special unit entered the Country Club area of Great Pond and seized an illegal semi-automatic pistol with a magazine. The operation followed intelligence about suspicious men in the gated community.

Regional authorities also detained Jamaican fugitives Kamar Matthews and Cleone Harris in St. Kitts and Nevis during separate operations on May 18 and May 20. Both men, wanted in Jamaica for murder and wounding with intent, were returned to the island by Wednesday afternoon.

In Westmoreland, 18-year-old Fernando Whitlock of Logwood district, Whithorn, died after a green Champion motorcycle hit a white cow on the Petersfield main road about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. Sixteen-year-old Ryan Williams suffered a broken right leg. Police said neither teen wore a helmet.

The St. Catherine North police say school-based intervention programmes have helped reduce student violence. Separately, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said police must remain alert in violent communities while keeping the preservation of life as their default duty, following public concern over the police killing of Latoya Bulgin in St. James.