Nagra Plunkett and Janet Silvera, Staff Reporters

( L - R ) Huan Genus and Shari Genus

WESTERN BUREAU:

Senior police officers have since been assigned to investigate the gun slaying of two policemen and members of their families just hours apart on Tuesday.

"A group of senior and experienced investigators from Area One will concentrate on the murders ... The leader of that team, Superintendent Wilford Gayle, has the authority to request resources from wherever it is needed," said Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Denver Frater, officer in charge of the Criminal Investigation Branch.

ACP Frater said that while the police are pursuing several leads, he is encouraging the public to assist with intelligence. The two policemen, Sergeant Huan Genus of the Clark's Town police in Trelawny, and Constable Ralston Ebanks of the May Pen police, were gunned down within four hours on Tuesday. Sgt. Genus' daughter, Shari, and Constable Ebanks' sister, Fernadissa, were also killed in the incidents.

Ambushed on way home

In Trelawny, Sgt. Genus, 52 year old, and his 26-year-old daughter, Shari, were ambushed along the Stewart Castle main road by gunmen as they drove home at approximately 9:30 p.m.

Genus was found lying along the roadway near his Toyota Corolla motorcar. Shari was seen in the front passenger seat.

Investigators have theorised that the two came upon a roadblock when armed thugs fired on them. The killers reportedly escaped with Sgt. Genus' licensed 9 mm pistol, serial number T2E 9075.

They also stole a handbag belonging to Shari, former Television Jamaica reporter.

"It's an awful thing, very terrible. It's like part of me gone right now because when Genus (husband) is away at work, it's just me, Shari and her baby, Rianna," said Doreth Genus, the policeman's wife of 26 years.

"I don't think I want to continue living here after this incident, losing a husband and a child."

Last January, Mrs. Genus and her younger daughter, Simone were tied up and robbed by gunmen at their Stewart Castle home. They escaped without any visible injuries.

Sgt. Genus, who was attached to the Stewart Town Police Station, is the second policeman to be killed since 2007. His death followed that of Constable Ebanks who was shot and killed along with his sister, Fernadissa Ebanks, along the Braeton main road in Portmore, St. Catherine, about 5:00 p.m. His 11-year-old niece who was shot and injured remains in hospital.

No motive has been established for the double murder.

In a statement yesterday, Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas said "the slaying of the police officers and their family members is a brazen attack on the state which will not be tolerated".

For his part, National Security Minister Dr. Peter Phillips noted that the killings occurred at a time when the police had just ended a year in which a serious dent was made on the activities of criminals and on the murder rate itself. He said no effort would be spared in bringing the perpetrators of the killings to justice.

And the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party in expressing condolences to the affected families, said it was "committed to work with all decent law-abiding Jamaicans to rid the country of this growing plague".

According to lobby group Jamaicans for Justice, the fact that these "violent and fatal attacks on members of our police force included attacks on members of their families make these tragedies that much more disturbing".

The Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ), said it was "appalled by the continuation of vicious killings of citizens and the lawlessness, which is becoming a way of life in Jamaica. The entire journalism fraternity is in deep distress over the brutal killings, which have greeted the country at the start of the year," it said in a statement.

"As members of the Fourth Estate, we are of the view that the time for talking has expired and it is now time for action," the PAJ statement continued.