WESTERN BUREAU – A man who was a suspect in last Thursday’s murder of a four month-old baby girl and her father was yesterday shot dead by a licensed firearm holder during an attempted robbery in Montego Bay, the police said.

He has been identified as Jermaine Simpson, 23, from Albion Lane in St James. According to the crime chief for the Area One Division, Superintendent John Morris, in addition to the recent Falmouth killings, Simpson was wanted for other murders, shootings and robberies committed in Trelawny and St James.

“He was wanted for a murder committed in Montego Bay along William Street, and the latest incident in Trelawny,” said Morris. “Additionally, his name has been linked with quite a number of shootings and robberies between St James and Trelawny.”

According to the police, Simpson was gunned down when he and two other armed men tried to rob a business place at about 12:10 am yesterday. A licensed firearm holder, who was among the customers, challenged the men. He fired at them, hitting Simpson who ran from inside the building and fell on the road outside, police said. A .380 Taurus pistol was recovered from Simpson.

Simpson, cops said, was among a group of men who opened fire on a home in the Race Course area of Falmouth in Trelawny last Thursday. In addition to the killing of Pharon McLeish, 34, and his four month-old daughter Candy, the baby’s mother was seriously injured.

Cops believe the attack on the McLeish home was reprisal for another shooting in the Compound area of Falmouth in which 17 year-old Fabian Gayle of 63 Cornwall Street was shot and killed.