Gun recovered at Golden Age Home

A .25 SEMI-AUTOMATIC pistol, three .25 cartridges, a 5.56 cartridge, an empty 9 mm magazine, and apparatus for smoking ganja, were the articles police recovered from the Golden Age Home in Denham Town during the cordon and search carried out there early on July 7.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Bertram Lee, who led the 27-man search team, told the West Kingston Commission of Enquiry on Wednesday that a chillum pipe was found in the kitchen of the home, while the firearm and ammunition were found in what appeared to be a motorcycle tyre tube during a search of one of the cottages on the premises.

The DSP told the Commission that the day before the search was conducted he was assigned by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Granville Gause to lead the search team. On the morning of July 7, he said, he met SSP Reneto Adams at the intersection of Collie Smith Drive and Spanish Town Road at about 5:30 am. Mr. Adams informed him of the location of the Home and assigned a police team to escort the search team there.

"He told me that after the Golden Age Home was searched there were other places to be searched depending on the time that the search was completed there," DSP Lee said. However, he said he was not told what the other areas were.The search, which was conducted to recover illegal firearms and apprehend wanted persons, was however aborted after officers forming the cordon around the area came under heavy gunfire.

Meanwhile, it was also disclosed on Wednesday that in addition to the Golden Age Home, officers carrying out the cordon and search were to pay special attention to premises located at 3B Milk Lane. This was according to Sergeant Warren Turner of the Mobile reserve who testified: "I was told by Mr. Adams that from information received, illegal guns and ammunition were being stored there."

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