COPS KILL SIX

WESTERN BUREAU:

Six men were killed in two separate alleged confrontations with the police on Monday, with three fatalities in St James and three in Westmoreland.

The Westmoreland incident took place around 4:30 a.m. in Top Lincoln, Grange Hill. 15-year-old Sheldon McCalla, a former Petersfield High School student; his 25-year-old brother-in-law, Odaine Barron; and an unidentified man – were killed after allegedly opening fire on a police team conducting an operation in the community.

Two illegal firearms and eight rounds of ammunition were seized from the house where they were killed.

While the police portrayed those killed as criminals, Shannel McCalla, the older sister of 15-year-old Sheldon and the mother of Barron’s child, said the men were good individuals, to the best of her knowledge.

“Friday was the last time I saw my brother, and today I got a telephone call to say that he was dead – shot and killed by the police,” Shannel told The Gleaner yesterday.

She said that her brother was loving, fond of animals and was involved in poultry farming at their Wharf Road residence in Smithfield.

Shannel also spoke of Barron, saying he was a good father and that she was unaware of him being involved in criminal activities.

“He is a very good babyfather; otherwise, we don’t know what they do when night comes,” said Shannel. “I was not surprised when I heard that he died, but when I heard that my little brother died with him I was surprised.”

Balvin Leslie, chairman of the board at Petersfield High School, expressed disappointment over McCalla’s death and his association with wanted men. He explained that McCalla had stopped attending school after being asked to adjust his uniform in line with school rules.

“He had stopped coming to school because he was wearing tightly fitted khaki pants, which violated the uniform policy, and he was asked to adjust it before coming back to school. However, he refused and stayed away,” said Leslie.

In the St James incident, which occurred shortly after 3 p.m., a police team, acting on intelligence, went to a rented house in the gated West Village community, located on the outskirts of Granville. As the officers approached, they reportedly came under fire. In the alleged ensuing gunfight, all three men, who remain unidentified, were killed.

Two guns were reportedly recovered at the scene of the incident.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Glenford Miller, the police commander for Area One, which includes Westmoreland and St James, confirmed that the men killed in West Village were suspected of being involved in a daring drive-by shooting on Hart Street in Montego Bay last Friday. In that incident, which occurred around 3 p.m., men in a Toyota Axio motor car pulled up at the intersection of Hart Street and Corinaldi Avenue, got out, and opened fire with rifles. Two men were killed and six others injured as bystanders fled in panic.

“From all indications, these are some of the same men who would have actually killed the people along Hart Street and shot the rest. That is what we are picking up on the ground,” Miller told The Gleaner.

Miller also noted that the men were strangers to the area, having rented the house in West Village. The residents, he said, were mostly professionals and did not recognise them. He urged people to be cautious when renting their properties and to conduct background checks on potential tenants.

“We are encouraging people, don’t harbour strangers in your place, but call the police. For the people who are renting their place without even trying to do a little background check, it makes no sense, because you need to know who is coming into your space. That is how it is supposed to be, but everybody is not doing that, and that is where the problem lies,” stated Miller.

At least 93 people have been killed by the police since the start of the year.

editorial@gleanerjm.com