Police acted on information that suspicious men were seen in the vicinity of the military firing range at Green Bay. There was a gun battle when the lawmen reached the scene, leaving five of the gunmen dead.

Published Friday, January 6, 1978

Five of 14 gunmen killed at army range

FIVE OF 14 MEN conducting target practice at the military firing range at Green Bay, south of the Port Henderson Hills, St Catherine, were shot and killed by a security forces ambush party near noon yesterday.

One man has been identified as Winston Hamilton. 23-year-old contractor of High Holborn Street, Kingston, and three have been tentatively identified only as “Guto”, “Cargo”, and “Gold Eye,” all of Barry Street addresses in Kingston. The fifth has not been identified. Some of the men were wearing “dreadlocks”.

All five bodies have been taken to the public morgue at the Spanish Town Hospital.

It is not yet known if the police have recovered any of the guns the men had from scrub bush terrain of the firing range.

Meanwhile, in a massive manhunt involving helicopters and police tracker dogs, scores of soldiers and policemen were at press time last night scouring the hills for the nine men.

It is believed that some of the men who escaped were shot in an exchange with the security forces.

Reports from the Police Information Centre are that about 14 suspicious-looking men in civilian dress were seen going into the hills towards the Jamaica Defence Force base and firing range at Green Bay in the Port Henderson Hills, about 14 miles from Kingston, across the Hunt’s Bay Causeway.

The security forces mounted a police-military ambush in the area and later surprised the 14 men who were conducting target practice on the military firing range.

Challenged by the security forces, the men turned their fire on them, and during the exchange of gunfire that ensued, five of the men were killed on the spot.

During the shoot-out, the other nine men scattered and escaped into the rugged terrain of the Port Henderson Hills. It is believed that some of them were shot during the exchange. There were no reported casualties among the security forces.

Crack police and sharp-shooting military reinforcements were called in, and the search for the nine men was stepped up. Helicopters and police tracker dogs were used in the search and roadblocks were set up on the roads leading to Portmore, Hellshire, Naggo Head, and Port Henderson in an effort to seal escape routes from the area. No civilian was allowed to enter the area, and newsmen who tried to get near to where the shooting had taken place were turned back.

Soldiers coming out of the hills at dusk had a pair of green trousers, which they said they found during the search for the fugitives. They said the pants could have been abandoned by a fugitive wearing more than one pair of trousers.

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