Fear grips residents in police murder conspiracy

Residents of Green Glebe Road in Red Hills, St Andrew, are cowering in fear and have opted to clear the streets before dark amid a police conspiracy probe following the murder of Phillip Wallace on Saturday.

Rogue cops are suspected to have carried out the brutal murder of the 49-year-old tiler and bar operator.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey confirmed on Monday that a policeman implicated in the deadly attack has fled Jamaica and that local law enforcers were working with international partners to nab the fugitive.

Two other policemen attached to the Constant Spring station have been arrested.

“I can assure you that the person who fled the island will be returned and justice will be done in this matter … ,” Bailey said during a press conference on Monday.

“The investigation is well advanced and we believe that in short order the appropriate action will be taken to those who are responsible for this murder.”

At Green Glebe Road on Monday, a shattered fish tank and bloodstains on a chair and on the ground told the grim tale of the horror that unfolded two days earlier.

“The man sit down on his phone and them drive up and shoot him inna him head and shoot up the whole place,” a resident said.

The bar was closed on Monday. Community folk said everything inside was damaged as the shooters sought to take out Wallace’s spouse, who was a moving target.

She escaped by dashing through a back door and jumping over a fence.

“All the poker box dem mash up. The woman have to run and jump over da woman deh fence over yah so. The man dem open up pon her,” a resident said.

The spouse, who allegedly identified the shooters as members of a police team who had engaged them two days earlier, has relocated for safety and security reasons.

The police are believed to have taken a bribe of $15,000 for a ganja find but upped the ask to $150,000.

Wallace, who was also a subsistence farmer of small crops, was a son of the soil and well loved in the community.

Residents are still rattled by Saturday’s violence.

“A whole heap o’ shot dem fire … . Right now, ... all from 4 o’clock the place scanty. Dem kill mi friend,” a woman remarked before her voice cracked.

“The police dem wicked, bredda. Dem come yah Thursday and come back Saturday come kill the man. If dem did come see anybody else sit down with him, dem dead, too,” a man told The Gleaner.

Both residents declined to divulge their identity for fear of retaliation.

Reports are that about 10:41 a.m. on Saturday, Wallace was seated in the community when a white Toyota Axio motor car drove up.

Three men reportedly alighted from the vehicle and opened fire, hitting him.

A report was made to the Constant Spring police and the said cops were being probed by their superiors about the alleged corruption.

The Gleaner understands that the policemen are in custody at the Grants Pen Police Station.

The residents are concerned about the state of mind of Wallace’s children, who are said to be devastated.

“The little girl a bawl. Dem deal with the man wicked. A pure head shot dem give him,” a resident said.

The Major Investigation Division and the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) are probing the matter.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com