Questions surround shooting incident at MoBay police station
Reports contradict over how prisoner seized officer’s gun before shooting fellow inmate and cop
Published:Monday | May 20, 2024 | 12:07 AMAdrian Frater/Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
Questions yesterday surrounded Saturday night’s bizarre shooting at the Freeport Police Station in Montego Bay, St James. While initial reports, including from an alleged eyewitness, indicated that a policeman was disarmed on the cell block, and his weapon used to shoot the lawman and two inmates, the official version of the incident has painted a different picture.
According to the police’s official report, released yesterday via the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s daily incident report, about 7:30 p.m., a prisoner, identified as 35-year-old Christopher ‘Bigfoot’ Campbell, of Maggotty District, St Elizabeth, who was restrained following an altercation inside the cell block and taken to the annex area, picked up a firearm, which a police officer had placed under a desk, and used it to shoot a fellow prisoner and a policeman.
The report stated that “… a dispute developed among five prisoners on the cell block, which resulted in a physical altercation. During this altercation, prisoner Chrisopher (sic) Campbell sustained stab wounds to his upper body. The police officers responded to the incident and attempted to intervene. A police officer who was coming off duty and armed with a firearm, placed the said firearm under a desk in the annex area and joined the police team to quell the situation.
“Campbell was taken to the said area by a police, where the firearm was placed. Campbell took the firearm, pointed it at one of the police officers and demanded that he open the gate to the cellblock. In fear of his life, the police officer opened the gate, allowing Campbell to the cellblock. Campbell then discharged the said firearm in the direction of another prisoner … , hitting him to the left side of the neck. Campbell then discharged several more rounds in the cell area. During this time, a police constable was grazed by bullet to the left hand.”
The police’s official report on the incident differs from what The Gleaner was told by a reliable source, who was present inside the police station, claims to have seen what was taking place and reported the incident in real time as it unfolded shortly after 7:30 p.m.
“Hell a pop a Freeport Police Station … a prisoner disarm a policeman and a buss shot pon the cell block,” the frantic caller told The Gleaner. “The police dem a run out of the building … a pandemonium. It look like the prisoner is on the loose on the station compound with the gun.”
Barricaded himself inside a cell
When the news team got to the police station about 8:45 p.m., the incident had already been reported to the public via The Gleaner on social media.
A policeman on the scene, quizzed for an update on the situation, said the prisoner who had taken the policeman’s gun had barricaded himself inside a cell and that a standoff was ongoing. He then left, saying he was going to get a senior officer to speak with the reporter.
A short time later, the policeman returned by himself, indicating with a gesture that he would not be able to provide a senior officer to speak with the media.
Over the next two hours, the situation was tense as members of the military, personnel from the Independent Commission of Investigations, a pastor, and two units from the St James Fire Brigade came to the location amid a flurry of activities. However, after some time, the soldiers, the pastor, and the firefighters left, though there was no indication that the situation was under control.
Interactions among the police personnel on the scene, both with their colleagues and on their phones, included a suggestion that policeman who had had his gun taken may have breached protocol as it was against policy to take a gun on to the cell block.
Shortly after 11:00 p.m., the parish’s police commander, Superintendent Eron Samuels, who was reportedly away on an official police engagement in Kingston when the incident started, arrived at the location. Without acknowledging the media, he went straight to the cell area. A policeman, who was seen coming from the direction of the cell block, told The Gleaner that the prisoner had given up the gun.
Just after midnight, as the media awaited an official response from senior officers, who were reportedly locked in a meeting, journalists were told to exit the compound as the crime scene unit was about to start photographing sections of the facility, starting at the gate.