Cop kills disturbed man during rampage at station

A mentally ill ex-convict was fatally shot by the police after he reportedly attacked lawmen inside the Grants Pen Police Station in St Andrew and extensively damaged nine vehicles, including three service units.

The bizarre incident occurred late Saturday and reportedly had officers busy trying to restrain and subdue the then-enraged man before a female colleague intervened, The Gleaner has learnt.

The man has been identified as 29-year-old Anthony Jones of a Grants Pen address.

Reports are that about 11:30 p.m., a team of officers heard a loud commotion with sounds of glass smashing and the voice of a man shouting expletives.

The Gleaner gathered that, after making checks, Jones was spotted with a knife and a piece of board.

“They observed that several vehicles on the compound were damaged and the man was in the act of damaging others,” a source close to the probe told our newsroom.

Four of the vehicles’ tyres were also slashed.

Jones reportedly advanced towards the cops, who called out to him in an attempt to stop him from damaging the vehicles.

The police said he advanced in the direction of a woman constable, hurling expletives and threatened to kill her with the knife.

“In fear for her life and the lives of her colleagues, she pulled her service Glock pistol and discharged one round that hit him on his upper body,” the source said.

Jones was taken to the Kingston Public Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) has commenced a probe into the fatal shooting.

TREATED FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA

A relative of the deceased told The Gleaner that Jones was being treated for schizophrenia since 2020 when he was released from prison.

He reportedly served a five-year sentence for illegal possession of a firearm.

The relative said Jones receives treatment on Thursdays at the Edna Manley Health Centre, located at the back of the Grants Pen Police Station compound.

A policeman assigned to the station said the incapacitation of the damaged service units would impact the operations in the space and resources would have to be deployed from neighbouring stations.

In the meantime, rank-and-file police personnel have been requesting the provision of non-lethal weapons to manage explosive face-offs with mentally ill persons who are armed and dangerous, and which often have fatal consequences.

INDECOM over the years has called for police to be trained to deal with the mentally ill.

In 2021, INDECOM reported that there were 35 incidents in 2020 involving the police where persons who possessed a weapon other than a firearm were shot and killed or injured.

Twenty-two of the incidents involved persons of unsound mind.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com