Just under 10 hours after the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) buried a slain colleague, gunmen shot dead 37-year-old Constable Richard King while he and other cops were on the job in the Fletcher’s Land area of Kingston early yesterday morning.

News of Constable King’s murder came as the country was informed by the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) that the body of a 25-year-old soldier, Private Jason Young, was found with several stab wounds in bushes in Guys Hill, St Catherine at approximately 10:30 am on Saturday.

However, it was the brutal and brazen killing of the policeman that generated combined condemnation from Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas, National Security Minister Derrick Smith and the Opposition spokesman on national security, Dr Peter Phillips.

“The criminals who perpetrate these heinous acts of brutality against agents of the state must realise that there is a united front confronting them who will bring them to justice,” said Commissioner Thomas.

The police chief noted that Constable King was the 14th cop to have been violently murdered since the start of this year and pledged that “all will be done by the JCF to bring these murderers to book”.

Minister Smith, who also condemned the killing of Private Young, urged residents of both Fletcher’s Land and Guys Hill to help the police find the killers of both members of the security forces.

Dr Phillips, in his statement, said “the continued attacks on members of the JCF represent a clear and present danger to the overall stability of the society”.

He, too, urged anyone with information on the murder of the cop to help the police apprehend his killers.

According to the CCN, Constable King and other police assigned to the Kingston Central Police Station went to Orange Street in Fletcher’s Land at approximately 2:00 am yesterday where a street dance was in progress.

Residents of the community said the cops were courteous as they enquired whether the organisers had obtained permission to stage the dance.

Suddenly, three armed men opened fire at the police team. Constable King was hit in the head and collapsed. His colleagues returned the gunfire but the three gunmen escaped.

King was rushed to the Kingston Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Yesterday, word from the community was that the residents were upset about the cop’s murder, and Commissioner Thomas and Minister Smith made mention of that in their statements.

“I am encouraged by reports that citizens who were present at this morning’s murder scene have publicly stated how the police conducted themselves in a professional manner,” said Thomas.

Smith said the fact that the residents have come out in support of the police in this incident is evidence that they were carrying out their duties in a professional manner.

Yesterday, one of Constable King’s colleagues at the Kingston Central Police Station remembered him as “an active man, always on the front line, ready to go above and beyond the call of duty”.

King, who served the police force for just over four years, was from Bridgeport in Portmore, St Catherine.

On Saturday afternoon, Commissioner Thomas was among mourners at the funeral of Sergeant Edgerton Brown, who was shot dead by gunmen on September 6.

Sergeant Brown was assigned to the Protective Services Division of the constabulary and was a member of former prime minister Portia Simpson Miller’s security detail.