INDECOM probes St Catherine police shootings after five men killed

A police operation in Bog Walk Gorge, St Catherine, ended in bloodshed on Tuesday when four men were fatally shot and a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force was hit by gunfire.

Hugh Faulkner, commissioner of the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), said the agency was still working to establish the full details of what took place in the Gorge. “We are in the process of confirming the identities, so we are processing the bodies and firearms,” he told THE STAR.

Reports indicate that the wounded men were taken to Linstead Public Hospital, where they were later pronounced dead. Investigators reportedly recovered two guns from that location, and the Linstead Criminal Investigations Branch is carrying out inquiries.

The incident caused the key corridor through the Gorge to be shut, and drivers were warned to prepare for delays and to travel on other routes. A senior police source told THE STAR that the injured officer was in “serious but stable condition”.

Investigators were also examining another location yesterday, after a separate fatal shooting near the train line by GC Foster College. Faulkner said that case could be connected to the four deaths in the Gorge.

“We are also investigating a fatality in the vicinity of the train line by the GC Foster College which may be linked to the quadruple in the Gorge,” Faulkner said.

According to reports, that man, whose identity had not been released, was taken to Spanish Town Hospital and pronounced dead. One gun was seized there, and the Spanish Town CIB is now investigating that scene.