THE Police Federation yesterday lambasted Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister K D Knight for describing Saturday night’s fatal police shooting in Bog Walk as a “very clear case of murder”.

“The statement is reckless, careless and irresponsible, and we are calling on Mr Knight to retract the statement,” said federation chairman, Sergeant Steve Brown.

Knight, an attorney who served as national security minister for 12 years, made the statement after the police shot dead a bystander in Bog Walk during what they described as a shoot-out between cops and armed men.

Speaking during Sunday night’s newscast on TVJ, Knight, the member of parliament for East Central St Catherine, said based on the information supplied to him by protesters, it was clear to him that train gate attendant Linton Rodney, 37, “was murdered”.

While the police’s version of the incident is that Rodney was killed during an exchange of gunfire between cops and lawmen, residents claim that the young man, known to them as “Dean”, was shot at close range and they have accused the police of murder.

Sergeant Brown said yesterday that he was not denying that the police may have made some mistakes during the incident, but noted that the matter was being “thoroughly investigated” by the Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI).

He blasted Minister Knight for his comments, and contended that the MP should have exercised better judgment and left investigators to deal with the shooting before commenting. He also intimated that Knight was using the incident to gain political mileage.

“As an attorney, he should know better. Mr Knight is MP for the area and we understand the situation he finds himself in. But, the death of an individual is far too serious for anyone to seek political mileage from,” Brown told the Observer.

But yesterday Knight rejected these claims, pointing to his re-election in the October elections as a sign of his popularity.

“What political mileage is there to gain? I have just been handsomely re-elected for a fourth term,” the MP noted.

Knight added that he was speaking based on information he had received.

“The comment was made in the context of a clear assertion that if the allegation were true then this would amount to murder,” Knight said, adding that he had taken a “strictly legal position which was totally in keeping with how police personnel themselves have to deal with information provided to them”.

Knight also maintained that, from the outset, he had asked Deputy Commissioner T G Johnson to investigate the circumstances surrounding the killing.

According to the Constabulary Communication Network, at about 7:30 pm on Saturday, a police party from Bog Walk went in pursuit of a group of men who had reportedly committed a robbery in Portmore the night before. The men were seen coming out of a car, in the vicinity of the train line, armed with handguns, the police said.

“On seeing the police the men reportedly opened fire at them. A shoot-out followed and Rodney and one of the armed men were shot. Rodney was pronounced dead at hospital while the other man was admitted under police guard.”

Five policemen who were involved in the shooting have since been removed from front-line duties pending the outcome of the investigations.

Last year 133 people were shot and killed by the police and lawmen have shot dead 35 people since the beginning of this year.