By Nagra Plunkett, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
POLICE INVESTIGATORS are collecting information in pursuit of a lead that they believe will result in a breakthrough into Sunday's murder of a policeman in Tucker, Irwin, St. James.
Constable Joshua Brissett, a member of the Westmoreland Police Division, was shot in the abdomen by gunmen at a grocery shop he operated in the community. He died at the Cornwall Regional Hospital while undergoing surgery.
DISREGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE
Deputy Superintendent Cleon March, St. James Police crime chief, was not available to give a comment on the status of the investigation but said his team of detectives were in the process of collecting statements relating to the crime.
Meanwhile, Commissioner of Police, Lucius Thomas has described the killing of the off-duty cop as a further display of blatant disregard for human life. He is the first policeman to be killed in 2005.
In his statement on the tragic incident, he expressed condolences to Constable Brissett's family and colleagues. The Commissioner also made a plea for Jamaicans to help restore law and order and to "be unwavering in their support to stamp out this scourge".
The constable, said to be in his mid-thirties, enlisted in the Jamaica Constabulary Force on September 10, 1997 and at the time of his death was on
temporary transfer to the refugee camp in Montpelier, St. James, where Haitian nationals are being housed.
Reports are that some time after 3:00 p.m., two men entered the grocery shop and demanded cash. A struggle began between the policeman and one of the robbers, during which he was shot. His attackers escaped in a waiting motor car.
