THE Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) has begun a probe into the fatal shooting of a man inside a passenger bus in the vicinity of the Olympic Gardens Police Station, St Andrew, yesterday morning.

The dead man has been identified as 23-year-old Odane Bennett of Hill Avenue, Kingston 11.

The police alleged that Bennett grabbed a M16 rifle from a policeman who was seated in a service vehicle at approximately 6:00 am. He allegedly ran and boarded a passenger bus that was picking up passengers en route to Three Miles. He allegedly pointed the weapon at the police, who confronted him. He was shot and injured. He was taken to the Kingston Public Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Yesterday, INDECOM said that initial reports it received was that the man had been treated at the University of the West Indies and the Kingston Public hospitals for mental health problems in the past.

The investigative body said that the scene was processed, civilian and security witnesses interviewed, and the firearm of the officer who shot Bennett taken and sent to the Government Forensic Laboratory for testing.

The police officers involved were also served with notices to furnish INDECOM with an account of the incident.