Suspected cop killer stabbed his own brother - Troubled man who lay below radar was 'bad from long time', say residents

Damion Hamilton, the suspected attacker who slew two policemen and injured three others in fierce gunfights last Friday, has been called a cold-hearted killer by residents of two St Catherine communities where he grew up or lived in the past.

Hamilton, residents of Riversdale and Williamsfield told The Gleaner, disembowelled his older brother more than a decade ago. Those wounds turned out to be mortal some time later, said the residents.

The 39-year-old Hamilton was slain in Cooreville Gardens, St Andrew, three days ago by police officers who were on the hunt for the killers of Detective Corporal Dane Biggs and Constable Decardo Hylton, who were attacked in Horizon Park, St Catherine, early Friday morning.

Superintendent Leon Clunis was one of the two cops critically injured while a third was wounded during an exchange of bullets that led to Hamilton’s death.

But according to residents of the rural communities, Hamilton had a troubled childhood that morphed into a life of crime.

“Him was a person weh bad long time. Damion cut out him brother belly, him own brother weh them live together. Damion did always rude bad,” a former neighbour, who requested anonymity because of security fears, told The Gleaner yesterday afternoon.

“Him come up here last year Good Friday come visit him brother grave in Gobay, and him did come up here come look fi we, too,” he added.

It is alleged by numerous community members that Hamilton stabbed his brother, who was known as Dwight, over a disagreement over a vehicle bought for them both.

Hamilton, who was reportedly deported from Canada in 2017 because of gun-related charges, is said to have lived a decent life before migrating, as his mother, who rented a home for him to live in, ensured that he was well taken care of.

There are unconfirmed reports that Hamilton served in the United States Marines Corps and that he was deployed in the Gulf War.

“When him brother dead and him come the funeral, him did a cry and a say him not even get to tell him brother sorry for what him do. Is a youth weh always serious from long time. Him nuh laughy-laughy or joke with people.

“Me feel a way because is a youth weh normally deh mongst we, and although him did serious, me never a expect him fi do all them things deh,” one resident, who is three years Hamilton’s senior, said.

Another resident who shared that he and Hamilton’s brother had been close friends chided Hamilton for unleashing the deadly attack on the police.

“It nuh surprising to me with that boy to what him do him brother already. Me did a look think say police would kill him long time. Me nuh feel sorry fi him because a so him coulda kill my son because him a police,” he said.

It is reported that Hamilton attended Harewood Primary and Infant in Williamsfield, where his father, a retired detective corporal, resided with his wife. Hamilton’s mother, who now lives in Canada, is from the neighbouring Gobay community.

However, the detective corporal’s wife, who said she taught at Harewood for more than a decade during the time that Hamilton would have attended the school, denied knowledge of him.

“His son? I never know it’s his son until you are telling me now. ... His father has never told me of him,” the woman, who said that she has been married to Hamilton’s father for under 40 years, said.

The couple have been estranged for 15 years.

Residents of Knockpatrick, Manchester, where Hamilton purportedly lived according to a driver’s licence he held, indicate that he was a shadowy character who kept below the radar. They paint the picture of a loner who rarely, if ever, engaged with members of the community.

“He was low-key, and nobody really knew him like that. A one day a man me know from Kingston a pass through and ask me if me know him (Hamilton), and I told him me just see him in the area, and the man tell me say him pretty ‘warm’ (bad man) and we must be careful” said the resident, who asked not to be named in fear that cronies of Hamilton’s may act in vengeance.

Hamilton was said to be staying with a friend in the area.

“I couldn’t tell you how long he was here or how often he was here, but me know me see him on the road. Me even see him and another youth one day come up at a farm where I was with a man one Saturday. But as me say, me and dem man deh nuh talk,” the resident said.

The Manchester police have confirmed that Hamilton was not linked to the Fairview, Knockpatrick, address on an ID taken from him.

“From our investigations so far, there is no evidence that he was ever living at that address at all. The occupant of that address would have given us evidence that they occupied the piece of land and were building that house from scratch,” said Superintendent Gary Francis, commander of the Manchester Police Division.

Another source said that upon learning of Hamilton’s demise, residents of Knockpatrick began panicking.

“People in the area, when them hear say him a who him be and that he was in the area, dem tense, man,” the resident said.

“And then worse, the police did full up the area the other day, everybody tense. Nobody wants to know say them have such a dangerous man in their quiet community.”

editorial@gleanerjm.com