HUDDERSFIELD, St Mary – The reputed leader of the notorious Stone Crusher gang in St James, Michael Forbes, otherwise called ‘Lassie’, 32, was shot dead by the St Mary police in Huddersfield, Oracabessa Wednesday night.

Forbes, who resided at Glendevon in St James, was killed after he allegedly pulled a firearm and pointed it at the police, who had gone in the community to search for him.

Forbes, a police spokesman said, recently rented the house in his efforts to elude the St James police who had placed him on their most wanted list following Tuesday’s murder of five residents of Norwood in Montego Bay, St James.

Forbes was previously convicted in the Montego Bay Gun Court in June 2001 and sentenced to 12 years for illegal possession of firearm and ammunition and was serving the sentence at the Tamarind Farm Correctional Centre in Spanish Town, from where he escaped on January 29, 2002.

According to St Mary police spokesperson Angella McTaggart, the police received information that Forbes was holed up in a house in the Huddersfield housing scheme and went in search of the gang leader at around 11:30 Wednesday night.

Upon seeing the cops, the police said, Forbes pulled a firearm from his waistband and aimed it at the lawmen, who returned the fire.

Forbes was shot and taken to the St Ann’s Bay hospital where he was pronounced dead, McTaggart told the Observer.

A 9mm Beretta pistol with 16 rounds and a magazine with 15 rounds were taken from the body, the police spokesperson said.

McTaggart said Forbes was identified by his fingerprints.

The police said Forbes had no known relatives in St Mary and believe that his main reason for renting the house was to avoid detection by the police.

The police did not give the exact address of the house, which they said was for security reasons.

Assistant Commissioner Keith “Trinity” Gardener, the officer in charge of Area One, which includes Montego Bay, confirmed that Forbes was the reputed leader of the Stone Crusher gang and was one of the names on the list.

Gardener said Forbes was an escaped convict who was a menace to society and was linked to several killings in Norwood.

Forbes eluded the police in a May 21 shoot-out in St James, in which Delano Williams, otherwise called “Bigga Crime”, 22 years old and Roy McLennon, 20, both of Norwood and reputed Stone Crusher members, were shot and killed.

In that incident, Forbes and another gang member, Cedric Murray otherwise called “Doggie”, of Glendevon, escaped.

Tuesday morning’s killings, which included an elderly couple, occurred when a group of gunmen kicked off doors to their homes and sprayed them with bullets. The houses were also torched.

The killings, which the police said were gang-related, pushed the number of murders in St James since the start of the year to 82, and followed a triple murder in the community a month ago.

– gilchristc@jamaicaobserver.com