Whose bullet hit the victim – police’s or gunman’s?

THE INDEPENDENT Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) is likely to reconstruct a crime scene and, along with postmortem findings, piece together its evidence to determine who fired the fatal bullet which struck a female passenger in a moving vehicle on Tuesday.

The incident, a reported robbery along Lexington Avenue in Kingston, left 34-year-old Terryesha Maragh dead.

INDECOM, in a release, said their probe now is to determine how Maragh died on the morning of March 26.

The investigative body, tasked to probe the discharge of firearms by the security forces, said between March 26 and 28 they responded to circumstances which resulted in the fatal shootings of four persons in separate incidents, across four parishes.

Hugh Faulkner told The Gleaner yesterday that at this stage early reports indicate that there was an exchange of gunfire, so the source of Maragh’s injury, and ultimate death, could not be established as yet, even though she is currently listed as being fatally shot by the police.

“That’s very preliminary because remember you have to do postmortem and that may even assist you with that,” Faulkner said.

When asked by The Gleaner if the incident could be deemed a misfire, Faulkner explained that it’s important to determine the correct cause.

“That is why sometimes we have to do scene reconstruction to try and come up with the likely source because sometimes you have civil proceedings apart from the punitive proceedings, you can have civil proceedings where the citizens can sue,” Faulkner informed.

He said sometimes reconstructive forensic processes can be helpful.

“If I was standing here, somebody at point X and somebody at point Y could likely have been the person who injured me. So at this stage it is very preliminary,” the INDECOM boss emphasised.

Reports say that on the day in question an off-duty police officer observed and intervened in the robbery of a female pedestrian along Lexington Avenue, Kingston 3.

During that police intervention, the officer fired his weapon at the escaping robbers.

Maragh, a passenger in a vehicle travelling along Lexington Avenue received a gunshot injury and was taken to hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

INDECOM said the alleged robber(s) escaped the incident scene.

No firearm was reported as retrieved.

INDECOM said the vehicle in which the deceased was a passenger was also processed and bullet damage was observed.

The concerned officer provided an initial account to the investigators at INDECOM and was served with a Section 21 Notice to provide a statement and attend the office of the commission to be interviewed in relation to the incident.

INDECOM said this killing and the aforementioned three increased the total number of fatal shootings for March to 12, and 34 for the year, to date.

According to INDECOM, they were not informed of a body-worn camera being issued, assigned or used in any of the incidents, including one that happened during a planned operation.

In the other incidents, on March 27, the commission say they were advised of a fatal shooting on Bassant Lane in Yallahs, St Thomas.

The police say they were engaged in a planned operation in search of a wanted man known by his aliases.

They entered a dwelling and a man was seen with a knife.

They reportedly fired at and hit the man, later identified as Lenford Barrett, and he was pronounced dead at hospital.

The bladed weapon was seized at the incident scene.

Also that same day, in Manchester, INDECOM’s central regional office responded to a fatal shooting at the Winston Jones High School.

A 24-year-old man, Kemar Clark, was shot and killed after reportedly driving in a dangerous manner within the school grounds, resulting in the injury of persons and damage to other property.

Clark reportedly drove at a high speed in the direction of a policeman who was present.

The officer fired at the vehicle and it crashed.

Clark was wounded by gunfire and pronounced dead at the Mandeville Regional Hospital.

The fourth fatal shooting incident occurred in Guy’s Hill, St Catherine.

INDECOM is appealing to any person who witnessed any of the four fatal incidents to contact the office of the commission at 876-968-1932.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com