FOILED HIT

The police on Monday foiled a brazen daylight hit job, ending with the fatal shooting of five men and the seizure of four firearms during a reported gun battle along Jacks Hill Road in St Andrew.

The deadly encounter, which unfolded around 12:40 p.m., also prompted an urgent appeal from investigators for Courtney Ashley, otherwise known as ‘Bloodstain’, to report to the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigations Branch (C-TOC).

The police recovered a high-powered M16 rifle, a shotgun, and two pistols – a Glock and a Taurus – at the scene, where officers say they came under sustained gunfire while attempting to intercept a murder plot.

According to police reports, a team was acting on intelligence when it arrived at the premises in the upscale Jacks Hill community. Upon approach, they were allegedly fired upon and returned fire in self-defence.

When the gunfire subsided, five men were found with gunshot wounds. They were rushed to the hospital, where they were pronounced dead. Their identities have not yet been confirmed.

A sixth suspect reportedly fled the scene and is currently being sought.

No members of the police team were injured during the incident.

Yesterday, when The Gleaner team visited the scene, onlookers described intense gunfire.

INTENSE GUNFIRE

A landscaper and a gardener working in the area said they initially mistook the barrage of gunfire for a robbery.

“A work me a work and when me hear the shot dem, me a check say a robbery a gwaan. There was lot of shots, a barrage of shots, about 50-odd rounds; a ‘nuff gunshots,” said the landscaper.

“A di first me hear something like dis, ‘cause which part me work a 24-hour security,” he added, while leaving the area.

While noting that his boss informed him that five persons were killed, he said he was surprised by the incident and was finding out for the first time that a studio was at the location where the shooting occurred.

The gardener, who was equally surprised by the incident, said that in his more than two decades working in the area, he had never seen such a violent encounter.

“Twenty-five years mi a work up here and di first in my life me a see something like dis.

“When I first hear the barrage of gunshot mi a say, ‘A wat is dat?’ But den again I seek cover and look through a window and see movement, and say it have to be police,” he said.

The worker said he immediately called his boss, who instructed him to press the panic button – which he did – and summon King Alarm security, who arrived on the scene.

The worker said he wasn’t sure what had transpired, but thought it was a police raid. When he was told that five men were reported dead, he appeared surprised.

Another resident nearby, who observed the aftermath, praised the police’s swift action.

“Job well done. Thumbs up to the police,” she said.

“People up here ‘fraid fi walk on the road because a di robbers.”

In the meantime, the incident has been reported to the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) and the JCF’s Inspectorate and Professional Standards Oversight Bureau, in keeping with oversight protocols related to police use of force.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is urging anyone with information on the case – including the whereabouts of Courtney Ashley – to contact C-TOC at 876-967-1389, Crime Stop at 311, the National Intelligence Bureau at 811, or the nearest police station.

However, this latest deadly encounter brings to 183 the number of persons shot and killed by the police since the start of the year – a more than 120 per cent increase compared to the corresponding period last year.

INDECOM, on Friday, again raised concerns about the growing number of police killings and renewed its call for increased use of body-worn cameras (BWCs) during planned police operations. The oversight body criticised the continued failure to equip police personnel with available body cameras, noting the evidentiary importance in high-risk confrontations.

Despite reported infrastructure limitations, INDECOM stated that the JCF should prioritise BWC deployment for pre-planned raids, warrant execution, and the search for wanted individuals to secure vital evidential information.

INDECOM’s concern came in the wake of four separate operations which resulted in the deaths of four men in St Catherine within 24 hours, between July 17 and 18 last week.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com