He was targeted

Detectives up to late yesterday evening were combing through “some good information” they hope will lead them to two armed thugs who gunned down an off-duty police corporal on Friday night in what is believed to be a targeted killing.

At the same time, residents in Mona Commons, St Andrew, the community where Corporal Devon Thomas was shot to death, have sought to distance themselves from an incident they say belie the respect they have for the police.

Corporal Thomas was inside a popular bar, located on Golding Avenue, shortly after 8:00 p.m. on Friday having a drink when two men entered and ordered cigarettes, commanding officer for the St Andrew Central Police Division, Senior Superintendent Marlon Nesbeth, told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday.

According to Nesbeth, one of the men then pulled a gun and shot the off-duty cop once to the upper body before they both fled the bar, which is located metres from the Papine Police Station where Thomas was assigned.

He is the second member of the Jamaican Constabulary Force (JCF) killed by gunmen this year.

“It is clear that he was targeted,” declared Corporal Rohan James, chairman of the Police Federation, the union that represents cops from the entry-level position of constable to the rank of inspector.

According to James, police investigators are “making some headway” in their hunt for the killers and “we are hopeful that in short order these perpetrators will be brought to justice”.

NO CLEAR MOTIVE

Nesbeth cautioned that investigators have not yet established a clear motive, but revealed that they are getting good “bits and pieces” of information.

“We already would have spoken to some potential witnesses and we are following through on the other investigative components that include forensic and other things to pursue the killers,” he said.

“We are just putting the puzzle together,” added Nesbeth, as he pleaded with members of the public who have information that can assist investigators to come forward.

Thomas was remembered by some of his grief-stricken colleagues as a no-nonsense crime fighter who was also jovial, but always on alert.

“He is always on his guard, always have on him [bulletproof] vest, on or off duty. This mash me up,” said a police corporal who worked for several years with the late cop in the St Andrew Central division.

Thomas was not wearing a vest at the time he was killed, Nesbeth confirmed.

His colleagues at the Papine Police Station largely declined to speak with the media.

In the aftermath of the killing, grief counsellors, mobilised through the JCF’s Chaplaincy Services Branch, began reaching out to the family of the slain cop and police personnel across the St Andrew Central division, some of whom were described as devastated.

“They are in serious grief mode,” Nesbeth said of the men and women under his command. “I am here reaching out to them and just giving them the support as best as I can.”

WE ARE GOOD PEOPLE

Amid the grief, some residents of Mona Commons have rejected claims that Corporal Thomas’ killers are from the area and expressed fear that the incident will continue the stigma attached to the tough inner-city community.

Residents recalled that Thomas was a frequent patron at the bar and had friendly relations with other persons there.

“The death just mek the community look a way. It makes us look like we are killers and murderers. Good people come from the community,” said one resident who did not give her name.

“[Mona] Commons people are a loving set of people. We may fight and cuss, but we love one another. It is a small community.”

The parliamentary opposition condemned the killing, noting that “from all accounts”, Thomas was a fearless crime fighter who served the JCF and his country with distinction.

“Corporal Thomas lost his life at the hands of callous and cowardly criminals…the wanton taking of lives, including those of law enforcement officers, signals that criminals have neither regard for the sanctity of life nor respect for authority,” Peter Bunting, opposition spokesman on national security, said in a statement.

The Police High Command has ordered a top-level investigation into the circumstances surrounding the killing, the JCF said in a statement yesterday.

– David Salmon contributed to this story

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com