Gunman slain, cops wounded in Portmore firefight
THE ST Catherine South police recovered a stolen motor car and an illegal gun following a robbery and shooting that left a gunman dead and three policemen injured in Portmore, St Catherine, on Friday afternoon.
Two of the lawmen were shot but their injuries are not considered life-threatening.
The third was injured as one of the fleeing gunmen stole a taxi and ran over the cop’s leg in a bid to escape.
Commander of the St Catherine South Police Division, Superintendent Christopher Phillips, told The Gleaner that covert teams patrolling in Portmore saw two women crying, lamenting that they had been robbed by men travelling in a motor vehicle.
Phillips said that the police gave chase and caught up with the assailants at the intersection of the Gregory Park main road and Passage Fort Drive.
CAME UNDER ATTACK
The police reportedly returned fire after they came under attack.
“One man alighted from the vehicle and started firing at the police. Another one took a taxi man out his vehicle and tried to make his escape. During that process, he ran over the leg of one police officer,” said Phillips.
The area was cordoned off and traffic was diverted.
The police are probing if another robber escaped.
This is at least the second time this week that Portmore has been the site of a major firefight.
On Wednesday, gunshots echoed throughout the Cumberland Meadows housing scheme following a tense stand-off between the police and an ex-member of the Jamaica Defence Force.
A policeman was wounded and the ex-soldier shot and injured.
In September, Phillips told The Sunday Gleaner that there were at least 16 gangs on the radar of the St Catherine South police.
“Portmore has a serious murder and gang problem,” said Phillips, citing the so-called Sunshine City as the epicentre of gun violence in the division.
Reports are that once-peaceful communities are slowly morphing into ganglands as traditional hotspots of violence spread their influence.
“There is a network between these gangs here. They support each other or form alliances for specific criminal activities.
“A gang in Central Village, for example, might be connected to a gang in Gregory Park,” explained the divisional chief, whose jurisdiction stretches beyond Portmore to Old Harbour and Central Village.