A police officer who was in charge of crime when Ravin Thompson was killed during a joint police/military operation in 2007, testified yesterday that Jamaica Defence Force members were hesitant to give an account of the incident and that they had refused to hand over their weapons for testing.

The police officer, who was giving evidence in the trial of former police constable Mark Russell in the Circuit Court in downtown Kingston, said he told the soldiers to get to a consensus on their stories.

Russell is on trial for the shooting death of 18-year-old Thompson, who was reportedly shot on Darlington Street while on his way to hospital after he was shot at his aunt’s house in Whitfield Town, St Andrew, in July 2017, in an alleged confrontation with the police.

The officer, who was the last of three witnesses to take the stand, told the court that the soldiers refused to hand over their firearms.

During cross-examination by Russell’s attorney Michael Jordan, the police officer said the soldiers were hesitant to give an account of the incident and gave conflicting stories.

Jordan asked him if he had specifically asked the soldier to give an account of the incident.

The witness testified that he asked both soldiers and police officers to give accounts.

Further to that, the witness, when asked if the police told him what transpired, said: “Yes, they told me what happened.”

However, the witness told the court that he was primarily told by the other police officer who went on the joint operation with Russell what took place.

Prosecutor Jeremy Taylor asked the police officer during further cross-examination if he had collected the firearms.

He said he collected some, noting that he collected the second officer’s gun and the firearm that was seized in the operation and handed over to him by the said officer.

“The soldiers refused to hand over their firearms. They said it was against their practice and they were following orders,” the police officer said, adding that the soldiers were unable to recall whether they fired their weapons but admitted that they were issued with 90 rounds each.

Additionally, the witness told the court that the second cop indicated to him that they were responding to information they received from the police control centre, about men carrying guns on Alexander Road. He said, upon their arrival, they saw one of the men who fit the description that was given standing among other people. He also testified that when they approached the vicinity where the men were, the men opened gunfire. The soldiers and the police returned fire, he testified. The men, he said, ran into a yard.

The witness later said he did not speak to Russell because he was told that he had not fired his gun and so it was not necessary to seize his weapon.

However, he testified that Russell might have heard his conversations with the second officer at the Kingston Public Hospital.

The trial continues today.