FLANKERS, St James

Angry residents of this volatile community blocked a section of the main road here yesterday, to protest the shooting death of 29-year-old Peter ‘Ravers’ Johnson.

Johnson – who has had several run-ins with the law – was shot after alighting from a cab on his way from the Coral Gardens Police Station where he was required to report three times weekly.

His father, Rupert, was among the residents expressing shock.

“He get bail so he has to go and report to Coral Gardens Police Station. He just come out of a taxi and police came out and wait for him and as he come out they give him two shot, draw him put him inna the car,” said a grief-stricken Johnson.

Using his handkerchief to sop his son’s blood from a section of the Flankers thoroughfare, the elderly Rastafarian explained his hurt.

“It is murder, the police murder him cold. I am hurt, I am hurt, I am well hurt. If I never hurt, I wouldn’t come and wipe him blood. I just want to have the power off him said way. That is my son, that’s my blood, that is my son, Peter Johnson, that is my son and him don’t do anything and the police come shoot him,” he wailed.

But the police account of the incident contradicted the residents’ claims.

According to the Constabulary Communications Network (CCN), at about 11:10 am yesterday, a police party was on mobile patrol in the Flankers area. On reaching a section of the main road, a passenger who alighted from a taxi, made eye contact with the police then pulled a pistol from his waist. He was then challenged by the lawmen.

The injured man was rushed to the Cornwall Hospital where he was pronounced dead. One 9mm pistol with two live rounds was seized by the cops. The Montego Bay CIB are investigating.

But some residents are questioning how Johnson could have been armed when he was just returning from police station. They are also pondering how he could engage the cops in a shoot-out “just in front of the soldier camp”.

According to Superintendent in charge of the St James police division, Steve McGregor, Johnson, who was facing a charge of double murder, had been linked with one of two politically affiliated gangs in Flankers responsible for a spate of violent incidents in the area in which nine homicides have been reported since the start of the year.

“He has featured in the ongoing flare-up in Flankers. He is the main name which is being called on either side in the gang rivalry,” Superintendent McGregor disclosed.

He promised that the police, who were deployed to the area to clear stones and other debris, would be maintaining a strong presence in the area.