(Jamaica Observer) – Minister of National Security Trevor MacMillan is awaiting a report from the Jamaica Defence Force regarding an incident in which soldiers allegedly assaulted a civilian during an operation by security forces in St Andrew on Wednesday.
Three policemen were shot and injured and an alleged gunman killed during the incident, which occurred at a house owned by popular reggae singer Luciano.
The 45-year-old entertainer whose real name is Jepther McClymont faces the possibility of multiple charges, including harbouring a fugitive. He was questioned by investigators yesterday in the presence of his attorney.
The investigators said they were seeking to determine the nature of the relationship between Luciano and the gunman, Andrew ‘Conqueror’ Senior.
Conqueror was eventually killed by the police after a two hour stand-off with the police.
Investigators say they recovered a high-powered weapon from the scene.
The three policemen who were injured during the shootout are recovering in hospital.
The incident, which started about 5 am, ended shortly after 7 am when police broke down a door to the entertainer’s house and cut down Senior, who taunted and dared the cops to come in after him.
One of the injured lawmen, who was shot in the mouth, was rushed into surgery and was last night listed in stable condition, while two others were nursing gunshot wounds to the leg and groin, police said.
The gunman was able to monitor the movement of the police on surveillance cameras installed at the house, Observer sources said.
Senior, 37, who was on the St Andrew North police most wanted list for at least six murders, was armed with a handgun when he took on the police in the shoot-out which could be described as a scene from a wild-west movie.
The heavy sounds of gunshots drove fear into residents of the middle-income community and forced motorists rushing to take children to school early to divert.
One parent said her three-year-old daughter who attends a nearby pre-school was traumatised.
Luciano was not at the house during the incident but was arrested when he turned up during the gunfight.
The police were also questioning another man who was in a separate house on the premises during the shoot-out. The police said they went to the house in search of Senior but were met with a volley of shots.
One of the cops was injured when he attempted to peer through a window and was surprised by the gunman who shot him in the face. The other two officers were shot as they attempted to flush the gunman from the house.
Another policeman on the crime scene said Senior taunted the officers as their colleagues lay bleeding.
“Him say ‘unnuh come in because me have enough bullet for all of unnuh’,” the cop told the Observer.
The police were handicapped because of the presence of the entertainer’s spouse and children inside the house. Senior eventually let the woman and children out before barricading himself inside a room.
But the cops did not relent and kept up the pressure until Senior was cornered inside the house and cut down.
MacMillan, while expressing his regret that the three cops were injured, was yesterday full of praise for what he described as the cops’ “courageous and brave attitude in the face of fierce opposition”.
MacMillan also said that the state would not back down from the criminals who were intent on terrorising the society. The police said they took a 9 mm pistol from the dead gunman’s body but were unable to confirm after a thorough search of the premises, if the pistol was the only weapon used by Senior during yesterday’s incident.
The stand-off left several of Luciano’s neighbours shivering in fear. Even a lone dog nearby trembled uncontrollably.
“Normally you couldn’t even come to the gate with him inside here but is like the gunshot them just get to him,” said the dog’s owner, who also said he himself was traumatised after he was jolted awake by the explosions.
