Residents recount police operation in west Kgn
Published:Wednesday | March 7, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Livern Barrett, Gleaner Writer
Residents of Denham Town in west Kingston yesterday painted a picture of terror as they recounted Monday's police operation that left six persons dead.
Four of the victims have been identified. They are 88-year-old Wesley Simpson, Carlos Alveranga, 26, Ramon Stern, 29, more popularly known as 'Tete Rass', and Nicketa Cameron, a 13-year-old student.
Police sources say Stern and another man known only as 'Kiro', who is also among those killed, were wanted for questioning for various crimes committed in the area and were the targets of the operation.
An elderly man identified by residents only as 'Fenceman' was also killed in what the police say was "a running and intense gunbattle involving the police and criminals".
However, Cameron's aunt and 11-year-old sister, who both claimed they witnessed the shooting, told a different story and said Cameron's quick thinking when the incident started may have saved her sister's life.
According to Cameron's sibling, the two were talking in the doorway of their home on Charles Street when gunfire rang out.
"We just hear 'bow, bow, bow' and she get the first one (gunshot) and she push me inna di house," the child told The Gleaner.
"When we come out back, we see har pon the ground and she did a bleed, but dem time deh she neva dead so we rush wid har go hospital," she said.
Fired over fence
Cameron's aunt, Tanisha Stewart, said she was in the alley way of the large tenement yard with Simpson and the two sisters when the police showed up.
"Dem put the guns over the zinc (fence) and start firing," she alleged.
Stewart said this was when Stern, Simpson and Cameron were shot and insisted there was no shootout.
"We need help ... we need help 'cause dem a shoot we like we deh a Afghanistan or dem place deh whey have war," Stewart said through tears.
She added: "So wha me waan know is if we no have no justice inna west Kingston."
Director of Communications for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) Karl Angell, in a statement released after the incident, said three of those killed in the "running and intense gunbattle" were wanted for various crimes committed in the Kingston Western and Kingston Central police divisions.
"The other three persons, including the lone female, are believed to have been killed during the course of the gunbattle," Angell said.