ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica – The St Elizabeth police are investigating the shooting death of a 41 year-old man here late Thursday.

He has been identified as Maurice Campbell of George’s Valley, close to Braes River, a few miles north east of Santa Cruz. Police say Campbell’s female companion was grazed by a bullet in the same incident.

The police suspect the shooting was the result of an illegal lotto scamming deal which went awry.

Reports say that at about 10:45pm Thursday, Campbell was behind the wheel of his X5 BMW motor car alongside a female companion in the drive-through lane of the popular KFC outlet in Santa Cruz when a lone man walked up and fired several shots. Campbell died at the wheel while his female companion suffered a graze to her back.

The shooter reportedly fled in a Toyota motor vehicle.

The police are probing reports that Campbell was trailed to the fast food outlet.

Head of the St Elizabeth police, Superintendent Lanford Salmon, told OBSERVER ONLINE that there is increasing evidence of lotto scammers moving their operations to St Elizabeth.

“We are asking residents who see people in their communities suddenly having lavish lifestyles, or people who have moved in with no visible means of support but who are obviously living lavishly, call us (police), let us check them out,” Salmon said.

Garfield Myers