 THREE policemen were yesterday shot and injured and a gunman shot dead in a dramatic early morning gunfight at a house owned by reggae singer Luciano at Westminister Crescent in Kingston. The incident, which started about 5:00 am, ended shortly after 7:00 am when police broke down a door to the entertainer's house and cut down the gunman, later identified as Andrew 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, whose real name is Jephter McLymont, was not at the house during the incident but was arrested and interrogated after he turned up at the residence during the gunfight.
The police were also questioning another man who was in a separate house on the premises during the shoot-out.
"He (Luciano) has been taken into custody; he is being questioned at the Half-Way-Tree Police Station. He could face charges of harbouring a fugitive at the bare minimum," head of the St Andrew North Police Division, Superintendent Anthony Morris told reporters at the crime scene yesterday.
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.
Security Minister Colonel Trevor 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".
In a statement yesterday, 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 9mm 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.
Yesterday's 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.
Another neighbour said that his young daughter was terribly shaken by the incident.
"When the shot them start fire about 5 o'clock, my little girl immediately say that she want to go school, to show you how fearful she was. The little girl even start ask how gunshot a fire outside and we move out of Cockburn Pen," said the man, in reference to a volatile inner-city community in Kingston, the Jamaican capital.
The incident caused several residents to be restricted from leaving their homes by the police. One man, whom residents said was of unsound mind, was beaten by cops after he crossed the police yellow tape despite being warned by two female officers.  [source] Don't forget to login and and comment to earn points, the more points you earn, the more you win. |
