Police probe fatal shooting in St Elizabeth as court contraband crackdown and other crime reports emerge

Police are investigating a fatal shooting involving a woman and her boyfriend in Hilltop district, St Elizabeth, after 8:30 a.m. on Friday. The dead woman was identified as Anishka Thompson of New Forest, Manchester. Investigators said the woman’s 38-year-old boyfriend told them he had removed his licensed firearm from a safe while preparing for work and placed it on a table. He said she picked up the gun playfully and, during an attempt to take it from her, it discharged. Thompson was taken to hospital and pronounced dead. Police said an autopsy and ballistic tests will help determine whether the matter was an accident or a deliberate shooting, and the case is now being treated as a death investigation.

In Portland, a farmer was killed during an incident in the Content district of Hope Bay on Thursday afternoon. Police said the man suffered fatal chop wounds to the head and upper body after he was attacked by another man. His name has not yet been released, and a suspect is in custody as detectives continue their enquiries. The killing is the latest murder recorded in the Portland Police Division, which had logged two murders between January 1 and June 27, according to the latest Jamaica Constabulary Force statistics.

In St Catherine, 36-year-old Peter Fable of Rearly, Boyo Content, has been charged with murder in connection with the killing of 33-year-old bus driver Mario Noel of Joe Brown district, Boyo Content. Police reported that at about 10 p.m. on July 1, Fable used a pitchfork to stab Noel several times in the chest and face before fleeing. Noel later died at hospital. Fable was arrested during a police operation and formally charged on July 2 after a question-and-answer session.

The Kingston Central police also seized an Intratec 9mm pistol, a magazine and three rounds of ammunition during an intelligence-led search in Allman Town on July 1. One man was taken into custody. At the Supreme Court, security has been tightened after several contraband seizures, including marijuana, grabber, earphones, lighters, razor papers and items hidden in shoes, bread and food containers. Three people have been arrested and charged.

Elsewhere, 51-year-old Conrad Hilton, otherwise called Rustin, of Mammee Bay Estate, St Ann, has been charged in the stabbing death of his former girlfriend, 34-year-old vendor Drizell Howell, otherwise called Nooks, whose body was found along a dirt track in Capture Land last month. Residents of Indian Town in Clarendon are also calling for urgent river cleaning to reduce flooding, while St Catherine North police have launched a Peace in Schools Ambassador Programme amid concern about young offenders. The Child Protection and Family Services Agency is urging parents and caregivers to keep close watch over children during the summer break, especially around water and when children are left in the care of others.