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UPDATE: Manhunt on for mentally challenged man accused of Manchester beheading

Published:Saturday | June 2, 2018 | 3:31 PM
Assistant Commissioner Clifford Chambers

The Manchester Police have launched a manhunt for a man believed to be of unsound mind who allegedly staged a deadly attack on two men in the quiet community known as Warrick last evening, beheading one of them.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Clifford Chambers says the mentally challenged man, identified as Howard Munroe, escaped in bushes after the alleged attack and is believed to have fled the parish.

“We are of the view that if the residents get their hands on Mr. Munroe they are going to kill him,” said Chambers, who heads the Police Area Three, which covers Clarendon, Manchester and St Elizabeth.

“We have notified other police divisions to be on the lookout for him” he added.

The slain man has been identified as Ainsworth Porter, 31. The other man injured in the incident has been identified as Clayton Brown, who has been hospitalised in critical condition.

Chambers said following the incident, angry residents set fire to Munroe’s home and attacked his caregiver, who they accused of not ensuring that the mentally challenged man takes his medication.

He said the caregiver has since been taken into protective custody to ensure his safety.

Chambers said Porter and Brown had a dispute over a piece of land when Munroe allegedly intervened and used a machete to chop them. Porter’s head was severed from his body and he died at the scene, Chambers revealed.

The incident comes weeks after a man believed to be of unsound mind allegedly attacked and chopped a police Corporal in Christiana, also in Manchester.

According to Chambers, the policeman is recuperating at home after undergoing six surgeries. He is expected to do further surgeries on his face.

“This parish has an issue with persons of unsound mind roaming in public spaces. This [the recent attacks] speaks to a bigger and broader issue of how we treat with these persons when they are in the public space. The powers that be ought now to be looking at a more clinical way of how to deal with them,” he suggested.

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