(Jamaica Gleaner) The Protective Services Division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has again been plunged into mourning after another member was gunned down by criminals yesterday.
The police corporal, whose name was being withheld by the JCF up to press time, was reportedly shot and killed around 4 p.m. along Sunrise Crescent in the vicinity of Red Hills Road, St Andrew.
The Gleaner understands he was assigned to former Prime Minister Hugh Shearer 25 years ago.
Shearer’s widow, Dr Denise Eldemire Shearer, speaking with The Gleaner from Trinidad, confirmed that the police corporal had been with her family since 1989.
She said the news has left her devastated, as the policeman and her family shared a close relationship over the years.
Eldemire Shearer said she would be making a statement as soon as the police complete their initial investigations.
However, the Constabulary Communication Network would not confirm details.
COLLECTING EVIDENCE
Up to news time late yesterday, the police were still on the scene collecting evidence.
It is reported the policeman was walking to his home in the Sunrise Crescent community in St Andrew when he was attacked. He was shot several times and his firearm taken.
An alarm was raised and a police team responded.
It is reported that the team tracked the getaway car to Half-Way Tree, St Andrew, where it was intercepted.
Four men who were travelling in the vehicle were arrested.
As the men were cornered, they allegedly threw a knapsack and a phone from the car.
The police recovered the bag, but its contents were not immediately revealed.
The killing of the police corporal follows the April attack on Detective Sergeant Courtnie Simpson, who was also attached to the Protective Services Division.
Simpson was ambushed and shot multiple times by gunmen as he entered his home in Harbour View, east Kingston.
Simpson had served parliamentarians and government officials, including former Health Minister John Junor, Transport and Works Minister Omar Davies, and most recently, Julian Robinson, state minister in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy, and Mining.