Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer
SHIELDS
ALMOST FOUR months after three policemen were murdered by gunmen in Kingston during a nine-hour rampage, Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields says the Jamaica Constabulary Force has identified the killers and are close to arresting them.
"After a long and thorough investigation we have our suspects. It's a matter of finding them but we will arrest them in our own time," DCP Shields told The Gleaner on Monday. He did not disclose the number of suspects but said the wanted men are from West Kingston.
According to Mr. Shields, the near three-month probe was a 'task force investigation' that involved various groups within the JCF including Operation Kingfish, the elite force that was established nearly two years ago to tackle crime in some of the country's hardened enclaves, as well as to clamp down on the illegal drug trade.
"I have to say also that we got immense support from the public," he added.
DEAD POLICEMEN
The policemen - Corporal Hewitt Chandler, District Constable Canute Brown and Inspector Lascelles Walsh - were gunned down within nine hours on the evening of May 3 and morning of May 4.
On May 3, at 9:30 p.m., Corporal Chandler was driving a patrol car when he was shot by one of two gunmen on a motorcycle at the intersection of West Kings House and Waterloo roads. The gunmen were killed shortly after by a police party.
At 3:00 a.m. the following day, DC Brown was killed when gunmen driving in a car attacked the Cross Roads Police Station where he was stationed, and shot it up. Two hours later, Inspector Walsh, a popular member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force's traffic division, was killed as he rode his motorcycle along Port Royal Street in downtown Kingston.
