WESTERN BUREAU:
THE MONTEGO Bay police have identified the 17-year-old who was shot and injured in Flankers, Montego Bay, on Monday as one of the alleged gunmen that fired on them.
"He received gunshot wounds to both hands and has been admitted in hospital but his injuries are not considered life-threatening. He is under police guard as he is to be charged with shooting with intent and illegal possession of firearm," said Constable Peter Salkey, Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) officer for St. James.
However, residents of Flankers had a different version of what unfolded in the community and maintained that the injured boy was an "innocent bystander."
"The police are lying, they are just trying to cover up by saying that he was one of the gunmen and that is what is aggravating the people," one woman contended.
She stated that the teen was at a standpipe in the Providence Heights when he was shot. Planned protest action by the residents yesterday was dampened by rainfall in Montego Bay.
Constable Salkey reported that a group of policemen went to Providence Heights in Flankers at about 4:00 p.m. in search of a man who was wanted for murder committed in the area on Monday.
It is said that the lawmen entered a dirt track going into the community when some 10 men fired on them, and that the police took cover and returned the fire. The teenager was later taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital after he was found suffering from gunshot wounds, the official reports said.
The Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI) is to head the investigations into the matter.
