Fitzgerald Thomas, otherwise called ‘Chis’, of Doctor Bird Circle fatally shot after he engaged lawmen in a gun battle

36-year-old man was fatally shot after he engaged lawmen in a gun battle at Doctor Bird Circle, Aviary Housing Scheme, Old Harbour, St Catherine, yesterday. A semi-automatic pistol was seized in the incident.Dead is Fitzgerald Thomas, otherwise called ‘Chis’, of Doctor Bird Circle.Reports are that about 5:45 a.m., a team of police went to Thomas’ home to execute a warrant on him. On entering the premises, they were met with gunfire. The lawmen took evasive action and returned the fire. After the shooting subsided, the area was searched and Thomas found suffering from gunshot wounds. The weapon, a .45 Colt semi-automatic pistol, serial number 001722, with two .45 cartridges was taken from him. He was taken to the Spanish Town Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

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Dave Sterling, alias 'Machine Man', was shot dead when he allegedly pointed a firearm at the police

Gang leader, identified as Dave Sterling, alias 'Machine Man', was shot dead when he allegedly pointed a firearm at the police along Collie Smith Drive in Trench Town.
Among the 53 detained in the early morning raids by the police on Thursday was a man who the police said was earlier this week 'installed' as head of the Rat Bat gang, less than a week after the death of Machine Man.Police did not release the name of the reputed gang leader but said he was behind a series of criminal activities in Kingston, including murder, rape and extortion.The detainees, which include two women, were still being processed late yesterday afternoon.
Yesterday, the placard-bearing demonstrators accused the police of targeting their communities, even as a group of officers kept watch from the opposite side of the road."Them a terrorise we and we not warring with anybody," a lanky youngster said. "Machine Man take care of we; is him send whole heap of people pickney go school and them kill him, for what?" a bleached-out face woman asked.
"Them come lock up the people them from yesterday (Thursday) and is them same people keeping the peace in the place," said another woman, clad in a skimpy outfit as she stood at the entrance to Delacree Park.Sections of Spanish Town Road, Crescent and St Joseph Roads and Coral Lane, where the raids were carried out on
Thursday morning, have been tense since Machine Man's death last Friday.According to the police, the Rat Bat gang and men from other sections of the community located between Spanish Town and Waltham Park roads have been involved in an ongoing fight for turf.More than a dozen people have been murdered in the bloody rivalry since the start of the year, the police said.

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Shawn Walker, also called Coach, was taken into custody after he was injured during a shootout with the police on Wednesday.

Shawn Walker, also called Coach, was taken into custody after he was injured during a shootout with the police on Wednesday. He is still in hospital under police guard.
Walker has since been charged for shooting with intent and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition. The police say Walker is the leader of a gang, which operates out of a section of the Phase Two Housing Scheme in Seaview Gardens known as Marley. According to the police he was also a suspect in the murder of bus driver, Roy McFarlene about three weeks ago. The police say he will be facing an identification parade in connection with that case as soon as he is released from hospital. Further charges are also expected to be laid against Walker in the case of a murder, which is reportedly being probed by the Major Investigative Task Force.

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Kenneth Robinson

Kenneth Robinson, 54, of 163-11 Foch Blvd. in Jamaica, was previously convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced by Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter to 25 years to life in prison, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said

In March 2004, Robinson voluntarily allowed forensic experts to take a swab of his saliva for a DNA sample when he was being questioned by police on an unrelated matter, the DA said.
According to trial testimony, Robinson went to the apartment of his grandmother, Pauline Henninghan, at 14-01 36th Ave. in Astoria sometime between 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 4, 1989, and 9:15 a.m. the next day, and manually strangled her, the DA said. Henninghan's body was later discovered in the hallway of the apartment with an electrical cord tied around her neck and fastened to a doorknob, blood on her clothes, and marks and abrasions on her scalp and nose, Brown said.
When NYPD Crime Scene Unit officers arrived at Henninghan's apartment, they placed paper bags over her hands and taped them closed before taking her body to the morgue, the DA said. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner kept fingernail clippings taken from both Henninghan's hands during the autopsy, the DA said.
When Robinson gave the saliva sample, the Chief Medical Examiner's Office analyzed human cells recovered from under his grandmother's fingernails in 1989, and found that the DNA in those cells matched that in the sample from Robinson, Brown said. Robinson was further linked to the crime by a photo taken Nov. 5, 1989, during an interview with police about his grandmother's murder, and admitted as evidence at trial, showed him with a scratch mark on his neck, the DA said.

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Every Jamaican resident in Jamaica to be registered

"It will require every Jamaican resident in Jamaica to be registered, to have a unique number assigned to him or her from the date of birth, and a number around which will be built the identification data," he explained.
The move, he said, will "ensure that this country becomes more manageable.more governable, and that the security of the country can be better ensured."
The national identification system is among a raft of crime reduction measures, which came out of five-day Cabinet retreat held from January 17 to 21.
"There are a number of issues that are going to be tackled very vigorously this year," the Prime Minister told journalists, noting that focus will be placed on the management of the police force, and its effectiveness and accountability.
He informed that certain legislative changes are being prepared to give support to that objective and "it is going to involve conferring greater authority on the Commissioner of Police and holding (him) more accountable for the exercise of that authority."
The Cabinet retreat, the Prime Minister said, also addressed the "critical importance of addressing urgent resource needs within the police force and we are going to have to prioritize again. those (resources) that we feel can have the greatest impact on (the) reduction in crime."
In the meantime, the Prime Minister said that Cabinet has signed off on a "multi-faceted and integrated approach" to crime fighting, which will seek to facilitate the integration of policing efforts with social intervention measures, and involve the relevant Government agencies with responsibility for critical services.
According to the Prime Minister, "we have learnt by now that simply going into communities with a show of force, in search of criminals or people suspected to be involved in criminal activity, that by itself has never produced, and is not likely to produce any sustained reduction in crime," citing social and economic conditions as factors "causing so many of our young people, especially our young males, to be conscripted into criminal activity".
"We have to be talking about transforming the community while enforcing the law," Mr. Golding stated.
To that extent, the Prime Minister advised that a new programme is being developed, which will integrate some past initiatives with new ones, adding that an announcement to this effect will be made in due course.
"We have a coordinating committee that has started to meet already. It is going to involve interfacing with non-governmental organizations, with community-based organizations, (and) with the private sector. It is going to require a holistic approach if any of the elements of those initiatives is to be effected," Mr. Golding said.

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125,000 weapons were destroyed

More than 125,000 weapons were destroyed in a smelting operation at the Caribbean Cement Company Ltd. yesterday, as the Government intensified its efforts to rid the country of illegal weapons.
The weapons, weighing half a tonne, comprised an assortment of pistols, rifles and high-powered guns.
According to Deputy Commis-sioner of Police Jevene Bent, the weapons included those that have been in storage from as far back as the 1950s, illegal guns seized by the police and defective police firearms that cannot be repaired.
"We've seized guns and we would have taken these before the courts. We also have guns that belonged to citizens but were left with the police for safekeeping and have not been collected," she said. "We would have done advertisements in the paper for them to be collected and, if they aren't after a period of time, then we dispose of them."
Minister of National Security Derrick Smith said yesterday's operation was the first of a series to be carried out.
"The capacity here couldn't take all (weapons) that we currently have in storage so there will be other occasions like this in the near future."
He said defective MP5 submachine guns were not among the lot that was burned.
"A representative from the constabulary force went to Pakistan to reorder, and sending back those 1,000 defective MP5s will take place once the new ones have arrived here."
According to information from the Constabulary Communication Network, 70 guns were seized in March, 61 in August and 61 as at the 30th of December.
In total, the police seized more than 630 guns in 2007.

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