Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas salutes while policemen carry the coffin of Corporal Lincoln Parker from the Portmore Seventh-day Adventist Church in St. Catherine yesterday. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
SPANISH TOWN :
TEARS FLOWED at the Portmore Seventh-day Adventist Church in St. Catherine yesterday, as hundreds paid tribute to slain policeman, Corporal Lincoln Anthony Parker.
But amid the mourning, National Security Minister Dr. Peter Phillips again declared an assault against cop killers.
"No resource will be spared in the effort to get those responsible for the cowardly killing of Corporal Parker," the National Security Minister charged.
Corporal Parker, 31, was shot 22 times in his community of De La Vega City, St. Catherine on June 4. According to Dr. Phillips, it was important that communities assist the police with information necessary to arrest criminals - a sentiment with which Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas agreed.
A grief-stricken former Member of Parliament Heather Robinson was angered at the death of the police corporal.
She too said residents must "fight back" with information against criminals or be prepared to witness more killings.
According to her, for too long networks such as the Clansman Gang, have held places like De La Vega City "imprisoned".
Amid the plea for co-operation in the fight against crime, nine-year-old Patonya recounted pleasant memories of her dad. "Fathers are like roses," she said in a poem dedicated to the memory of her father.
Her mother Nicola Williams, who earlier read the second lesson, fainted as the coffin bearing the body of her beloved fiancé was escorted from the church by fellow policemen.
