CHAOS IN SPANISH TOWN

An uneasy calm hung over sections of the Old Capital on Friday night after Clansman enforcer Sheldon Lennox Walters, more popularly known as Termite, was cut down in an alleged shootout with cops.

At daybreak on Saturday, several streets in Spanish Town, St Catherine, including March Pen Road, the Spanish Town bypass and Burke Road, were blocked as sympathisers crying for justice mounted fiery protests, triggering widespread disruption and tension.

Public transportation ground to a halt, leaving commuters stranded, as several businesses remained shuttered.

Returned from his honeymoon

Some protesters, who spoke with The Sunday Gleaner, said Walters, who had just returned from his honeymoon on the north coast, was visiting family members in the Top Bank community in Spanish Town on Friday night when it all unfolded.

One alleged eyewitness said that sometime after 8 p.m., Walters was leaving Top Bank when a plain car and a marked service vehicle drove up. She said Walters exited his vehicle and surrendered to the cops and asked the approaching residents to turn back and not to create any “excitement”.

She said they soon heard a barrage of gunfire.

Another resident, who did not wish to be identified, stated: “The man come out a him car and one of the officer drape him and kick weh him foot same time and start fire pure shot.”

Faced with the threat of further unrest, authorities ordered businesses to close early on Saturday, transforming the usually bustling commercial centre into an eerie quietude as shoppers abandoned their weekend plans.

Several persons recounted scenes of fear and confusion as residents fled the escalating violence, with vendors reportedly warned by gang members to stay off the streets.

Marginalised community

Amid the turmoil on Saturday, the voice of a concerned mother stood out as she pleaded for an understanding of the challenges faced by her 16-year-old son, who lives in the marginalised community and was picked up by the police.

“Sir, is because you nuh know how it hard fi live in the ghetto. The police dem seh dem see him a block road, but if him nuh do it, we can’t live in the community,” she explained.

“A di truth mi a tell you. Mi wish mi coulda raise him somewhere else,” she said as she desperately tried to secure his release.

Superintendent Hopton Nicholson, commanding officer for the St Catherine North Division, said some 32 persons were detained during the operations, including one who had been identified as a person of interest in a murder investigation launched two years ago, and another a person of interest in a recent shooting case.

Amid the tension, law enforcement agencies remained on high alert, navigating a delicate balance between maintaining order and addressing community grievances.

Senior Superintendent of Police Stephanie Lindsay, who heads the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s communication unit, told The Sund ay Gleaner that the threat level against law enforcement officers operating in the space has increased.

“The police are out there, very much aware of the threat level, and are taking the necessary precautions to ensure that they don’t become victims while carrying out their [duties],” Lindsay said.

“We are aware that once you have a person who is known in the community to be involved in criminal gangs to the level Walters was, there will be threats against law enforcement,” she noted.

Walters, who hailed from Kitson Town in St Catherine, had been on the police’s radar for some time. He was considered the de facto leader of the One Don faction of the Clansman Gang since the incarceration of leader Andre ‘Blackman’ Bryan.

He had also been arrested on suspicion of involvement in a criminal organisation, but he was one of those released before the Clansman-One Don trial started.

For more than a decade, Walters also faced a series firearm and ammunition charges as well as for wounding with intent.

In 2015, he was among three people charged, including a cop, for their alleged involvement in the drugs-for-guns trade.

Meanwhile, the Independent Commission of Investigations has launched a probe into Friday night’s shooting.

ruddy.mathison@gleanerjm.com