MONTEGO BAY, St James – A policeman who was among a group of St James Highway Patrol cops conducting spot checks at a section of the Long Hill to Montego Bay road was yesterday shot and wounded when three gunmen travelling in a white Toyota Corolla motor car opened fire on them.

Police said Constable Kwane Mitchell was treated at hospital and released.

Last night, investigators said they were questioning one man in connection with the incident.

Mitchell is the seventh cop to be violently attacked – two fatally – in less than a week.

According to Corporal Peter Salkey, the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) liaison officer for St James, the latest incident occurred at about 9:25 am.

“They were on operations at Long Hill in the vicinity of the ‘Five Miles’ corner when they saw the white Toyota Corolla, registered 8824 EN, and signalled the car to stop,” said Salkey. “The car slowed down and then immediately afterwards all three men who were in the car opened fire on the police.”

He said Mitchell was hit in the abdomen and right arm.

Less than 30 minutes later, Salkey said, the car was spotted in the Water Works area of Westmoreland – 38 kilometres away. The driver was signalled to stop by the police but the order was ignored.

The occupants, he said, instead opened fire at the cops who returned the fire.

During the alleged gunfight, Salkey said, the men abandoned the vehicle and fled into nearby bushes. One of them, the police said, was later held.

It is not clear if any of them was injured.

Late yesterday, investigators were still trying to determine if the car in which the men were travelling had been stolen. It was parked in the rear of the Withorn Police Station with its rear glass shattered and windscreen riddled with bullets.

Meanwhile, four persons – including a couple – were murdered in St James and Westmoreland on the weekend.

On Saturday night, the bullet-riddled body of a couple was discovered by the police in the Russia area of Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland.

According to the police, at about 9:00 pm residents of Russia heard explosions and alerted the police.

On their arrival, the body of 39 year-old housewife Coreen Hamilton was found lying face down along the street with multiple gunshot wounds.

A search of her home revealed that her 26 year-old common-law husband, Ewon Yapp, was also killed. His body also had gunshot wounds.

In St James, the police said they are yet to establish a motive for Saturday night’s gun slaying of Desroy Downer, 33, of a Rose Heights address in the parish.

According to the CCN, at about 8:00 pm residents heard explosion in the Rose Heights community and summoned the police.

When the police got there, Downer’s body was found with gunshot wounds on a road. He was pronounced dead at hospital.

In the other incident, which also occurred on Saturday, the police said Rushelle Shaw, 21, was stabbed to death by unknown assailants at her home in Paradise Heights.

The CCN reported that at about 2:30 am Shaw was at home when intruders entered the house and stabbed her several times. She was later taken to the nearby Cornwall Regional Hospital where she was pronounced dead.