Six persons were shot, five fatally, as a section of the volatile western Kingston community exploded once again early yesterday morning.

Four men were reportedly killed during separate shoot-outs with police teams as they were accosted on their way from a dance in Craig Town in South St Andrew to Denham Town in western Kingston.

The Gleaner understands that a well-known area don was one of two men who died in one the shoot-outs with the police who were combing the area after an earlier shooting incident.

Few details were immediately available about the incidents involving the lawmen, but the police revealed that about 1:50 a.m., 18-year-old Rohan Armstrong and another man were found suffering from gunshot wounds along Regent Street. Armstrong subsequently died en route to the Kingston Public Hospital, while the other man underwent surgery.

As news spread of the predawn incidents, residents mounted roadblocks in the community that were quickly quashed by roving police teams.

When contacted by The Gleaner, Senior Superintendent of Police in charge of the Kingston Western Division, Terrence Bent, confirmed that there were two sets of fatal shootings involving the police and another shooting incident involving civilians.

Asked to divulge details of the shootings, Bent would only indicate that the incidents appeared to be related and referred The Gleaner to the Major Investigation Task Force (MIT) and the Independent Commission of Investigations, which probes police-related shootings.

Efforts to contact Superintendent Michael Phipps, in charge of the MIT, failed.

gary.spaulding@gleanerjm.com