JAMAICA OBSERVER photo-lithographer Michael Thompson, 42, was shot dead Saturday night for looking like a policeman.
Mr. Thompson, who lived in Havendale, St. Andrew was the only fatality in the hold-up of a minibus by two gunmen, who robbed passengers of cash and jewellery. The minibus registered PP 650R, plies the Kingston to May Pen route.
The police say that on reaching Spanish Town Road, in the vicinity of Toyota Jamaica Limited in Kingston, the gunmen accused Mr. Thompson of being a policeman before firing two shots, one of which caught him in the chin.
They then ordered the driver to go to nearby Diamond Road, where they got off the bus and escaped. Mr. Thompson was taken to the Kingston Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Vernon Davidson, Associate News Editor at the Jamaica Observer, said yesterday that he heard reports that Mr. Thompson, who was sitting in the back of the bus, was trying to keep the gunmen calm when he was shot.
"If this is true, I wouldn't doubt it because Mr. Thompson was that sort of person," Mr. Davidson said, "he was the peacemaker type, though he's not inquisitive; he would always try to resolve conflicts."
Mr. Davidson said he remembered Mr. Thompson as an affable, intelligent, and soft-spoken person.
Mr. Thompson had been working in the Observer's pre-press department for seven years. He leaves behind his wife Marlene and five children, two of whom are his stepchildren.
Meanwhile, in another killing on the weekend, an unidentified man believed to be about 30 years old was stabbed to death by a group of men at the intersection of Heywood and Orange Streets in downtown Kingston on Friday.
The man who is about 167.64 centimetres tall was wearing green pants, a multi-coloured jersey, brown shoes and a blue and white head tie. The police say that he was approached by a group of men who accused him of robbing a group of schoolboys. He was then set upon by the men who stabbed him in the back, chest, abdomen and left hand. He died on the spot.
Another unidentified man, one of three who attempted to rob a licensed forearm holder, was killed at Jarrett Street in Montego Bay on Friday evening. He is believed to be about 21 years old.
The Montego Bay police say that at about 8:30 p.m., the licensed firearm holder was standing in front of a business place, when three men armed with machetes approached him and demanded money.
When the demands were not met, one of the men attacked him. The firearm holder pulled his gun and fired at the man, hitting him in the forehead and chest. The other two fled the scene.
