Nagra Plunkett, Staff Reporter

District Constable Luke 'Collymore' Rhodes. - Contributed

WESTERN BUREAU:

As relatives grieve over the brutal murder of the 50-year-old district constable gunned down in downtown Montego Bay, St. James, Tuesday night, they were also livid yesterday that no official notification of his death has been communicated.

"Up to now, nobody from the police came to us, we heard about the incident on the news," his niece, Verna Smith, told The Gleaner yesterday.

"I think that is really, really bad and somebody should have come and said something."

A Jovial man

Smith remembered her uncle, DC Luke 'Collymore' Rhodes, of Salt Spring, St. James, as a jovial man and a disciplinarian.

"I am just trying to deal with the situation," the teary-eyed woman commented. "It's going to be hard to deal with the loss, not having him around or seeing him again."

Mr. Rhodes, a father of three, is the fourth policeman to die at the hands of criminals since January. He was attached to the Mount Salem Police Station in Montego Bay.

"He was a very hard worker, always ready to hit the streets," said his colleague, Sergeant Ravel Grey. "It is unfortunate that his life was taken this way."

Reports are that, about 9:20 p.m., Mr. Rhodes was standing along the usually busy St. James Street, in the vicinity of the Shell service station. It is said that three armed men walked up to him and opened fire, hitting him at least 10 times. He died on the spot.

The gunmen's bullets also hit a 27-year-old woman of Flower Hill, St. James, who was standing nearby. She has been admitted to hospital.

The men also took the policeman's loaded .38 service revolver - serial number D431012 - along with his watch and cellular phone.

Eyewitnesses say the shooters walked onto Union Street, then to Market Street, where they escaped in a waiting motor car.