WHAT should have been a leisurely drive to his home after a day at the beach with family members yesterday turned deadly for Constable Ralston Ebanks when a gunman walked up to his car at an intersection in Portmore and shot him, his sister and nephew at point-blank range.

Ebanks died instantly; his sister, Fernadis Ebanks-Clarke, succumbed to her injuries at hospital while her one-year-old son was admitted to hospital in critical condition.

According to the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN), at about 5:15 pm the 38-year-old constable, who is assigned to the Clarendon division, was travelling to his home in 8 West, Greater Portmore, along with his 34-year-old sister and her one-year-old son. As Ebanks stopped at the traffic light at West Port Henderson Boulevard, a car pulled up alongside his white Toyota Mark II motor car. A gunman alighted, and shot the cop and his family.

Apparently surprised by the attack, Ebanks swerved, hitting a blue Honda Odyssey motor car before overturning in an embankment.

According to CCN liaison officer for St Catherine South, Constable Verdanne Wright, it is believed that Ebanks was trailed to the location where he was shot. There were no bullet holes on the car, which seems to confirm that he was killed at close range.

With only two days into the new year, Ebanks became the first cop killed since the start of the year. Last year, 10 cops were brutally gunned down, while the year before 15 died at the hands of gunmen.

Close to 8 o’clock last night, a large crowd converged on the scene as a wrecker removed Ebanks’ car from the ditch. Family members who arrived on the scene were in shock, and could not speak to reporters. However, a few people at the crime scene told the Observer that Ebanks could always be seen jogging through the community each morning.

Hartley Stewart of the Police Federation, who was on the scene, expressed deep sorrow at the policeman’s murder.

“It is a sad feeling we have here tonight,” he said, adding that Ebanks was well-loved by his community.

“It just points out that we never take things for granted and that we have to be ever vigilant because this officer was coming from a moment of leisure with his family,” Stewart said.

Constable Ebanks, who was said to have been an avid football player for the Jamaica Constabulary Force, is survived by three children.