A police constable and his girlfriend were yesterday morning shot and injured during a hold up at Five West in Greater Portmore, St Catherine.

Two men were shot and killed in an ensuing gunbattle with other cops who were quick on the scene, police say. They were not identified.

According to Detective Inspector Carl Malcolm of the Greater Portmore Criminal Investigation Bureau, the cop’s girlfriend had driven her Honda motor car home at about 1:30 am yesterday and was about to enter her house when she was pounced upon by three armed men. The constable was awake at the time of the incident and challenged the gunmen.

“The policeman challenged the three gunmen who opened fire and shot him in the shoulder. The woman was shot in the back,” Malcolm said.

Other policemen were alerted to the incident and responded quickly and killed two of the men during a gunfight.

An Intratec submachine gun, with nine rounds of ammunition, was taken from one of the men. The unidentified men were taken to the Spanish Town Hospital were they were pronounced dead.

The policeman was admitted to hospital in stable condition but the woman’s condition was said to be serious.

The police say they later conducted an operation in the Dunbeholden area, in the vicinity of the Eight West Scheme, when they accosted two men who were ‘acting suspiciously’.

The men, the police said, ran leaving behind a Bryco 9mm semi-automatic pistol and three rounds of ammunition.

Police say they chased and held the two men, who they said are from Homestead in Spanish Town, St Catherine.

The Bureau of Special Investigations has launched a probe into the incident.

So far this year the Greater Portmore police have recovered 36 illegal guns and 272 rounds of ammunition.

-walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com