Key Takeaways
- In Mount Salem, one suspect died, and three police officers were injured during a gunfight early Wednesday morning.
- Authorities identified the deceased suspect as 29-year-old Romario ‘Jerry’ Brown, wanted for homicide.
- The gun battle began when a police team was ambushed while patrolling Crawford Street at around 3:18 a.m.
- In Portmore, police shot and killed two armed suspects during an operation; they recovered an illegal firearm at the scene.
- The Independent Commission of Investigations is investigating both incidents.
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One suspect is deceased, and three law enforcement officers have sustained injuries during an alleged gunfight early Wednesday morning in Mount Salem, Montego Bay, St. James.
Authorities have identified the deceased as 29-year-old Romario “Jerry” Brown. The police wanted him for a homicide and other shootings.
According to The Gleaner, the police reported that at approximately 3:18 a.m., a team from the Area One Fugitive Apprehension Team (AFAT) was patrolling Crawford Street in Mount Salem when they came under heavy gunfire. Fearing for their lives, the officers took evasive action and returned fire, resulting in a gun battle.
During this exchange of gunfire, three suspects and three officers sustained injuries.
One of the police officers sustained bullett wounds to his shoulders and both legs. And another officer received a graze wound to his right side. A female officer took a pellet in the chest. Thankfully, the bullet lodged in her cellphone, which was in her police vest.
The authorities reported that the police seized an illegal firearm at the scene. The injured individuals were taken to Cornwall Regional Hospital, where officials pronounced one suspect deceased. It has also been reported that one officer remains hospitalized, while his two colleagues received treatment and were subsequently released.
Mount Salem has been under a Zone of Special Operations (ZOSO) since September 1, 2017, as part of various initiatives aimed at curbing rampant criminality.
– The Gleaner was the first to publish this story.
Police neutralized two men in Watson Grove, in Portmore St Catherine.
In another incident, which occurred on Tuesday, the police shot and neutralized two suspects in Watson Grove, Portmore, St. Catherine, and seized an illegal firearm. The authorities have identified the deceased individuals as 26-year-old Javaughn Newell, a resident of Tarus Drive in Watson Grove, and a man known by the alias “Brandon,” who was from the Gulf area in Gregory Park, Portmore.
According to the police report, at about 5:20 a.m., law enforcement officers conducted an operation in the Tarus Road section of Watson Grove, Gregory Park.
The police entered a yard, with a one-room concrete structure, and noticed that one of its doors was slightly open.
Brave officers breached the dwelling, where they encountered two men, one of whom was armed with a gun. Fearing for their lives, the police took evasive action to neutralize the threat.
As a result, both men sustained bullet wounds. Meanwhile, the police recovered
a Smith & Wesson pistol, which had a magazine containing six rounds of .40-caliber ammunition.
The officers then transported the injuried men to the Spanish Town Hospital, where a doctor pronounced them deceased.
The Independent Commission of Investigations has since launched an inquiry into the incident.