Three men were fatally shot and more than 500 rounds of ammunition seized during separate police operations in the old capital of Spanish Town yesterday. Two of the dead men have been identified as 25-year-old Nigel Archer and 33-year-old Carlton Ellis.

The third man has not yet been identified. He was cut down in a separate incident in a community known as Keystone.

According to Detective Sergeant Paul Thomas, sub-officer in charge of crime in the St Catherine North police division, Ellis and Archer were cut down after they challenged police who were patrolling in the Bundle Lane section of Windsor Road.

“Officers from Spanish Town and the Special Anti-Crime Task Force were conducting an operation in the area when two men opened fire upon the approach of the police,” Thomas said. “The officers defended themselves and the two were shot.”

The police also said they recovered a .380 colt MK4 pistol with four live rounds on one of the men. They were both taken to the Spanish Town Hospital where they were pronounced dead.

The incident happened minutes after midday yesterday.

Police described Archer as a notorious gunman who was wanted for murder and other gun-related crimes in the division. Archer was also wanted by federal agents in the United States for murder, police said.

The cops then searched premises at Bundle Lane where they said they found 213 rounds of assorted ammunition. The search was extended to nearby Grey Drive where another 310 rounds of ammunition and a drum magazine for an assault rifle were allegedly found.

According to one cop, Archer was a suspected arms dealer.

“We have intelligence that he supplied criminal elements in Spanish Town and Kingston with a variety of shots,” the cop said.

Details of the other fatal shooting were sketchy at press time but one cop told the Observer that the unidentified man was shot after he fired shots at police officers who were in the area.

The Bureau of Special Investigations is probing both incidents.