One of two gunmen who hijacked a taxi on Hagley Park Road in St Andrew yesterday morning was crushed to death when the vehicle collided with another motor car and overturned near the Waltham Park and Molynes roads intersection during a high-speed chase.

The dead gunman’s identity was not ascertained up to late yesterday afternoon, but police confirmed that his crony — who fled the crash scene — was found hiding in a yard and arrested shortly after.

The extent of his injuries are unknown.

Police said none of the occupants of the Honda motor car, into which the hijacked car crashed, was seriously injured.

An illegal firearm was recovered from the scene, the cops said.

The Observer learnt that the gunmen pretended to be passengers, boarded the vehicle, pulled their weapons, ordered the driver and two passengers — a man and a woman — out, then sped off.

The driver of another taxi, who saw what was happening, picked up the driver of the hijacked car and chased the thieves.

“Ah don’t know if a jump dem jump out or if dem push dem out, but same time mi pick up the driver an’ him tell mi wha a gwaan and we start chase dem,” the taxi driver told the Observer.

He said he kept blaring the horn of his car in order to attract attention as the carjackers turned left onto Waltham Park Road at full speed.

The chase ended about a mile up the road when the stolen car crashed into a black Honda motor car and flipped onto its top.

One of the gunmen received multiple broken bones and died on the spot. The other, eyewitnesses said, was arrested after he was found hiding in a nearby yard.

The taxi driver who chased the gunmen said he was surprised at their brazenness.

He said that while it was common for taxi operators on the Three Miles to Half-Way-Tree route to be targeted by criminals, the attacks would normally occur at nights.

“Bwoy, I am telling you that I was frightened this morning,” he told the Observer. “This happen at 6:30 in the morning; we look for them things there at nights. Them get bareface bad.

“But I am glad how it worked out. The police were well on top of it, trust me. Because as soon as they come they start search from yard to yard until them find the other one,” he said.

Asked if he was fearful during the chase, the taxi driver said, “Bwoy, mi not even did a think bout dat, mi jus did a drive dem down”.

He said he realised that the gunmen were unable to drive as the car was swerving from side to side during the chase. In fact, it was just after he made that assumption about the thieves that the car crashed.

The taxi driver, in the meantime, called for increased unity among taxi operators on the route, and begged for more protection from police in the St Andrew South and St Andrew Central divisions.

“We just have to try to come together as a team now and see if we can get some good police officers to work with us that any problem we have they can be there for us,” he said.

Late last year, taxi operators staged a protest outside the Cool Oasis service station on Hagley Park Road after two of their colleagues were gunned down and their vehicles stolen within a two-week period.