(Jamaica Observer) – Gunmen on Sunday morning shot dead a 56-year-old policeman and injured his son, 25, in the parish of Westmoreland. The killing was one of 13 reported over a bloody Emancipation Day weekend.
Dead is special corporal Anthony Simpson, attached to the Savanna-La-Mar Police station. His injured son was not identified.
Police reports are that about 12:15 am, the cop and his son were sitting in his (cop’s) motor car in an area known as Station Road when they were approached by three men.
“After a brief conversation, the men pulled guns and robbed the policeman of his firearm,” the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) said. The men then opened fire on the two, before escaping. The special corporal died on the spot while his son was taken to hospital and admitted.
Minister of National Security Senator Dwight Nelson condemned the murder of Special Corporal Simpson, saying it served as further testimony that rampaging criminals were bent on pursuing their deadly campaign against the forces of law and order.
Nelson said in a statement that this was substantiated by reports that the hoodlums who gunned down the policeman spoke to him before opening fire on him and his son.
“There was no indication that Special Corporal Simpson retaliated or provoked the action, yet these murderous criminals still felt the need to shoot not only the policeman but his son, as well,” Senator Nelson said.
The minister asserted that no stone would be left unturned in bringing the perpetrators to book, and he urged colleagues of the slain cop to use these attacks to strengthen their resolve to break the back of criminal elements.
He also called on citizens who may have witnessed the act or have knowledge of the attack to step forward, warning: “The next victim could be you, as these criminals have no mercy or a sense of the sanctity of lives.”
Simpson’s murder brought to eight the number of policemen killed in the country since January. The attack on the cop was also the second against a law man in a five-hour span from late Saturday to early Sunday morning.
On Saturday, a police inspector attached to the Chapleton Police Station in Clarendon was shot and injured by a group of gunmen who attacked and shot dead a woman at Sunrise Crescent, Red Hills, Kingston 8.
CCN reports are that about 8 pm the inspector witnessed a group of men armed with guns approaching the woman, whose name up to press time was still not released.
“The inspector drew his service firearm and confronted the men. during an ensuing exchange of gunfire the cop was hit,” CCN said. The woman was also shot multiple times. The gunmen fled the scene.
In other incidents over the weekend:
. Steve Allen, 18, otherwise called ‘Jubby’ of Grants Pen Avenue, Kingston was shot dead on Saturday by unknown assailant/s at Federal Road in the parish.
. Carlington Brown, 28-year-old farmer of Hopeton district, Lennox Big Woods, Westmoreland was found chopped to death in his community.
. An unidentified man who held up and attempted to rob passengers on a Coaster bus was set upon and beaten to death by his would-be victims and citizens at River Road, St Catherine. A firearm was handed over to the police following the incident.
Siddy Angela White, 29, of Duncans Avenue was shot dead by gunmen at the intersection of Walkers and Duncans Avenue, Kingston 5.
. Troy Knight, 29, taxi-operator of Elliot Avenue, Constant Spring, Kingston 8 was fatally shot by unknown assailant/s at Fagan Avenue, Constant Spring Road.
. Franklyn Campbell, a 40-year-old businessman of Heartease district, Manchester, was shot and killed by gunmen in the parish.
. The corpse of an unidentified female infant was found in a yard at Content Gardens, Ocho Rios, St Ann.
. In Westmoreland, police found the body of 20-year-old Odane Dawns with gunshot wounds on Friday. Police said gunmen had reportedly abducted Dawns after they shot and injured a businessman at Wharf Road, Smithfield, Westmoreland.
. In Kingston, Norman Morrison, a 38-year-old mason, was shot and killed by gunmen who invaded his home at Oak Street, Allman Town.
In Tivoli Gardens, the Denham Town police found the body of a man believed to be in his 20s with gunshot wounds, on Friday.
In St James, a man believed to be about 20 years old was shot dead by unknown assailant/s at Garvey Square, Glendevon.
