An off-duty policeman wrote his name into the annals of the Jamaican constabulary when he allegedly outgunned three armed men, killed two, recovered a pistol and lived to tell the tale. Police yesterday declined to release the name of the constable but disclosed that he is a member of the crack Hunts Bay Police Special Squad that faces down some of the most hardened gunmen in the St Andrew South division.

The cop was imediately hailed by a colleague, Detective Constable Omar Welsh, as “a living example of a hero who is dedicated and alert and a good example for us to follow”.

“This is a heroic act which should be commended by promotion because some officers would have hidden while the constable stood up and did his best,” Welsh told the Observer.

The alleged shoot-out took place near 9:30 pm Tuesday in the oddly named Osbourne Store community near Four Paths, Clarendon.

Details of the incident were still being pieced together, but police said the constable was opening the grille to his carport at his home when three men – two of them armed – suddenly emerged from the dark and opened fire on him.

Keeping his wits about him, the constable drew his own firearm and engaged the shooters, hitting two of the men. One fell in front of the carport while the other fell about 10 metres from the house. They were pronounced dead at hospital.

One of the dead men has been identified as Oneil Markland, 29, labourer, of 4 Evans Drive, Western Park, May Pen, Clarendon while the other, said to be about 25 years old, was unidentified at Observer press time. The third man escaped.

The Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) said the policeman allegedly took a .380 Browning pistol with serial number BDA380425PTO4805 with two .380 cartridges from Markland’s body.

Police said Markland was on bail to return to the St Ann’s Bay criminal court on Tuesday, July 18, to answer a charge of robbery with aggravation. A condition of his bail was to report to the May Pen police twice weekly. He last reported on Monday, July 3.

A Four Paths police spokesman told the Observer that the area was comparatively crime-free but that from time to time, criminals from outside the area would stage robberies there and escape.

“You see, we are on the main between Kingston and May Pen and most times a (criminal) man passing through just stops and commits a crime,” the spokesman said.

One such crime was committed about 4:55 pm on the same Tuesday when three men, two armed with guns, robbed a wholesale establishment at Larsons Plaza, Four Paths and took $82,580 in cash, dozens of cartons of cigarettes and scores of telephone cards before escaping in a waiting motor car.

Police did not immediately link the robbers with the gunmen who attacked the constable but the CCN said the Bureau of Special Investigations had commenced an inquiry into the shooting incident.