An undertaker prepares to remove the body of Cpl Headley Davis, who was yesterday morning shot dead by three hold-up men at The New Magnol House on Slipe Pen Road in Kingston. (Photo: Michael Gordon)

A community's anger spilled in the streets of Majesty Gardens and onto Spanish Town Road in South Andrew yesterday after a policeman's bullet killed little Renee Lyons, 10, in what residents felt was a case of senseless shooting by cops.

But across town, on Slipe Pen Road, Cpl Headley Davis, didn't have a chance when he stumbled onto a morning robbery at the Magnol House hardware store.

Davis' wife watched as three gunmen riddled his body with at least 12 bullets. The gunmen stole Davis' service revolver before escaping in a gully that runs nearby.

The unintentional shooting death of Renee triggered road blocks and bonfires on sections of Spanish Town Road which were cleared at the intervention of the area's parliamentary representative, Portia Simpson

Miller, and Superintendent Claude Samuels of the South St Andrew police.

According to Majesty Gardens residents, Renee's death represented the height of senseless stupidity of policemen firing wildly in circumstances that were not only unwarranted, but when innocent people's lives would be in danger.

According to eyewitnesses, the police were chasing a street boy who was seen smoking ganja. The boy zig-zagged his way through the community.

Police followed, gun in hand.

Witnesses say that they urged the cops not to fire because children were playing in the streets. They claim that the warnings were ignored.

A policeman, according to the witnesses, fired an early shot before the chased boy entered the Majesty Gardens proper. "... The people them tell him don't fire and him still fire," one angry woman claimed.

With Renee's death leading to a bitter demonstration, the police involved in the incident were removed from front-line duties and their guns are to undergo ballistic tests. Their hands were also wabbed for gunpowder residue.

"Me feel like me woulda kill him back," said Saushana Dennis, 23, Renee's cousin.

At The New Magnol House, though, the sympathies were overwhelmingly with the police.

The rights group, Jamaicans For Justice, too, joined security minister, Peter Phillips, in condemning the policeman's slaying.

"It is extremely distressing that Jamaica should lose yet another member of its police force to violent crime," the group said.

Davis was the fifth policeman killed so far this year. Fourteen cops were killed last year.

Phillips, in appealing for information to help bring Davis' killers to justice, warned that the war on crime was one that law-abiding Jamaicans had to win. He urged members of the constabulary to be "extra careful" as they go about their business.

Davis, who was stationed at the Spring Mount station in St James, arrived at the store at about 9:15 am, not too long after opening time. Last week Davis had placed an order at the store by telephone. So he and his wife and a friend left St James early yesterday to be in good time to collect the goods. They travelled in a Nissan Serena minivan.

But by the time they got to The New Magnol House, a hold-up was already in progress.

According to investigators at the scene, the robbers had ordered everyone to lie face down just before the Davis' arrived at the door.

A female employee winked the policeman, who was in plainclothes, hoping to alert him that something was amiss. She was shot and seriously wounded.

Before Davis could fully draw his service firearm, the hold-up men turned their guns on him. The policeman's body lay in pool of blood on the pavement outside the business place. Unable to bear the sight of her husband's lifeless body on the ground, investigating officers whisked Mrs Davis away.

While investigators were busy combing the crime scene for clues, members of the Special Anti Crime Task Force, led by Senior Superintendent Donald Pusey, were doing the same in nearby communities. As a reward for their efforts, Pusey's men recovered a 9 mm Browning semi-automatic pistol with seven live rounds, at a yard on Wild Street in Allman Town.

"We decided to search some known haunts along Wild Street in Allman Town," Pusey told the Observer. "When we entered number 33, we heard the shaking of zinc fences."

A man was escaping the scene. "The gun fell from him while he was going over the zinc fence," Pusey said.

The police also took into custody two men, who they say they want to question about the killing of the cop. The men were arrested after allegedly behaving suspiciously at the crime scene, "They were asking the wrong questions and were overheard commenting that the officer should have gotten more shots. We just want to question them," a detective at the scene said.

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