Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter
THE ADJOINING streets and lanes surrounding the inner-city
community of Balcombe Drive in Waterhouse, St. Andrew, remained on edge yesterday,
following the killing of of well-known resident, Allan Coleman, better known
as 'Allan Buckas'.
"The area is still tense but calm, but we are pleading to the residents to allow the police to deal with the situation because we don't want any reprisal. We have already identified the persons involved in the killing," Detective Deputy Superintendent Michael Phipps told The Gleaner yesterday.
Reports are that since the
killing, the police have saturated the affected areas. The 51-year-old Coleman who was the strongman for the notorious 'Buckas Posse', was shot 19 times. He was gunned down along Ken Hill Drive,
shortly after 5:00 p.m. on Saturday.
DEPORTED FROM THE US
According to the police, Mr. Coleman, who was deported from the United States some time ago, was riding his motorcycle when he was attacked by two gunmen, with handguns blazing.
"We removed 20 spent shells from the murder scene," said DSP Phipps, crime officer for the St. Andrew South Police Division.
LONG-TIME TURF WAR
Preliminary investigations by the police have suggested that Mr. Coleman's death may have been linked to a long-time turf war between men from the same community. It is alleged that one of the suspects involved in the killing is also a deportee.
Contacted yesterday, Member of Parliament for West Central St. Andrew, Andrew Holness, stressed that should the problem escalate, some 1,700 people would be affected.
"The death of Mr. Coleman is very unfortunate. I am hoping that there will not be any reprisal(s)," said Mr. Holness.
The Member of Parliament explained that the Balcombe Drive area has been one of
the problem areas in the constituency. In 2004 at least 32 persons were murdered in that section of the constituency.
"But things have been improving because so far this year the murder rate in the constituency has significantly reduced," said Mr. Holness. He attributes the reduction to the various intervention programmes implemented by himself and the church,
supported by the police.
