Cops under probe: 12 fatal shootings in first 15 days of the year

A total of 12 people were shot and killed by local law enforcement officers in the first 15 days of the new year

The Independent Commission of Investigation, in a release, said last year for the entire month of January a total of 13 fatal shootings were reported compared to this year where those figures have almost been surpassed in the first two weeks of the month.

INDECOM said the latest set of shootings this year took place over two days, January 14 and 15 and resulted in four people being killed.

"These latest incidents increase the total to twelve (12) persons who have been fatally shot by the security forces so far this year," the release from INDECOM reported.

Comparatively, in 2023, 13 persons were fatally shot during the month of January.

INDECOM in a release stated that on January 14, the Commission commenced investigations into fatal shooting incidents in Rollington Town, Kingston and Portmore, St Catherine while on January 15, Investigators probed incidents which occurred along Mountain View in Kingston and Hopewell in Hanover.

In each of the four incidents, one man was fatally shot and there was an alleged recovery of a firearm.

The deceased men have been identified as Akeem Chance; Alex Madden – 24 years old; Paul Cassanova – 38 years old; and Nyron Cameron – 21 years old respectively.

All four fatal shooting incidents were reported to INDECOM, as planned targeted operations, of which one of the incidents was a joint police and military operation.

INDECOM in the release said it notes the significant increase in planned operations where fatalities are occurring.

"All such operations involve organisation, preparation and scheduling. A loss of life by Agents of the state, requires objective records of the interactions. In the interest of accountability and transparency, it requires every effort to be made for security force personnel to be equipped with body-worn cameras.

All incident scenes were examined, and the evidential material recovered, processed and packaged.

The hands of the deceased men were all swabbed for gunshot residue, INDECOM release stated.

The concerned officers provided initial accounts and were served with Section 21 Notices, pursuant to the IndependentCommissionofInvestigationsAct, 2010, to submit statements and attend interviews. Planned Operation Interviews have also been scheduled with the operation team leaders.