By Janet Silvera, Gleaner Writer
Powell
WESTERN BUREAU:
CHRISTOPHER POWELL, secretary-manager of the St. James Parish Council, has taken administrative leave with immediate effect after his home was riddled with bullets by unknown assailants early yesterday morning.
For months the Parish Council official had been receiving threats on his life, which he reported to the police, he told The Gleaner.
Powell has now asked for an immediate transfer from the parish, having been in the job for two years.
The Council administrator, who lives in the upscale Leaders Avenue neighbourhood in Montego Bay, said he heard shots fired from outside his gate at about midnight. The bullets hit the verandah, kitchen and a side door.
"When I heard the shots, I rolled off the bed in order to protect myself," he told The Gleaner.
Hours after the incident he said he had no intention of returning to the Council at the end of his leave.
"Whoever wants the job can have it; it's not worth it," said Mr. Powell. He said he had received enough death threats in the past six months to make him take heed.
Minister of Local Government Portia Simpson Miller immediately condemned the attacks and said the Ministry would not be treating the incident lightly.
"It's a sad day for Jamaica, a sad day for the St. James Parish Council and the workers of this country," she said. "We hope that the police will leave no stone unturned in this matter."
Derrick Kellier, state minister for national security, said there was no doubt that "the intent of the shameful act was to kill" Powell. "We are concerned about the level of crass intolerance that is now creeping into the body politic of local governance within St. James," he said in a statement.
EMERGENCY MEETING
The incident sparked an emergency meeting at the Council, and several residents converged on the building, with placards, condemning the attack on the secretary-manager who in a short time, had earned the city's respect. But Powell said yesterday that he was finished with the parish.
"Even if I was provided with security, I wouldn't stay in St. James."
Mr. Kellier meantime described the incident as an act of terrorism, even though the police seemed to have few leads on the shooters up to last night. The Constabulary Communications Network (CCN) had no details and attempts at reaching the inspector said to be investigating the shooting were unsuccessful.
"It is no secret that threats have been made against the life of Mr. Powell and other members of the administration of the St. James Parish Council, in an effort to have them resign," said the state minister.
The shooting was confirmed yesterday by Superintendent John Morris, crime chief in charge of the Area One police division.
He said at about 12:15 a.m., neighbours saw a white Toyota Corolla station wagon travelling down Leaders Avenue with a man seated on the right rear window. Shortly after, several shots were heard.
The alarm on the house was activated by the bullets and the police were summoned. The investigators found four 9mm spent shells at the scene.
The attack and threats levelled against Mr. Powell follow death threats that were made against Errol Greene, Town Clerk of the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) and Lincoln Evans, city treasurer.
In May last year both men were forced to take security precautions after receiving warnings that there were contracts out on their lives.
