TENSION was high in the tough Portmore communities of Newlands and Naggo Head last night following the police killing of an area ‘don’, Dante Morris, who was said to be involved in the slaying earlier of a policeman.

Police from the St Catherine South Division, however, were not taking any chances and had a strong contingent of officers in the communities last night to avoid a worsening of the situation.

Police said they went to Morris’ home at White Lane in Naggo Head and were fired upon. In an ensuing gunfight Morris was cut down, the police reported.

He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. The police also reported that an illegal firearm was taken from Morris.

“He had to be taken out, we had no choice,” said a policeman from the Mobile Reserve, which was called in to assist the St Catherine South police.

Police said Morris, who was taken out by officers in an alleged shoot-out, was among a group of gunmen who called Constable Miguel Cuff out of his house at Rosemary Lane, near to Naggo Head, bound his hands and abducted him.

The gunmen reportedly shouted that they were police when they went to Cuff’s home.

The policeman’s home was later torched and shot up by his attackers, but his girlfriend who was with him at the time reportedly escaped unhurt.

Cuff’s body was later found in his Toyota Hiace minibus in the nearby community of Southborough. He had three gunshot wounds to the head.

Cuff, the fourth policeman to be killed since the start of the year, was assigned to the Police Statistics Department.

Yesterday, Security Minister Dwight Nelson, in a release to the media, condemned Cuff’s killing and urged residents of Naggo Head to purge their community of criminals.

“They have no mercy, they have no loyalty and they will cut you down as easily as they cut down the policeman who was sworn to serve and protect you. You must now move decisively to uproot criminal elements to ensure that your community is safe,” the release stated.

Acting Police Commissioner Owen Ellington also condemned the murder and branded Cuff’s killers as cowards.

“The murder of Corporal Cuff was a vicious, evil and vile act of cowardice and is yet another example of the vicious nature of criminals operating in our midst and the extent these criminals will go to in order to create fear among our citizenry,” Ellington said.

Residents of Naggo Head, meanwhile, refuted the police’s version of the shooting and blocked sections of the main road with debris in protest.

The roadblocks were quickly removed by the police.

“Them shoot him in him bed. Him was not no bad man or gunman. The police murder Dante,” one woman said.

The usually busy town square resembled a ghost town yesterday. There were none of the dozens of taxis usually parked at the terminus, while shops were closed.

“Things too tense right now; it better if we just lock down and cool,” said one man who operated a shop in Naggo head.

The nearby Naggo Head Infant and Primary dismissed classes early and called in parents to collect their children. Principal Floretta Plummer said all afternoon classes were dismissed, on the advice of the police.