Claude Mills

Observer Writer

A male taxi operator was shot and killed in the vicinity of Dermason Plaza on Cumberland Road in Portmore, St Catherine this morning.

Egeton Newman, president of the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services, has condemned the killing of the cabbie.

“It is sad that a bike man just rolled up and shot him. We don’t know the circumstances, but we condemn the shooting. This is the third one in two weeks, and the second one in eight days, one by the police, and two by criminals,” Newman told OBSERVER ONLINE.

The Constabulary’s Communication Unit confirmed the shooting, but did not have the identity of the taxi operator.

“This is the 17th transport operator who has either got shot, killed, or abducted since the start of the year, this is serious, and the government doesn’t recognise us and we are seen as easy prey by criminal elements,” Newman said.

Of the three taxi operators who have been shot, one is battling for life in hospital, while the other, who was shot by the policeman, is recovering, according to Newman.

“The taxi operator who was shot by the police has denied being in any altercation with a cop. He said why would he have hit a cop with his car and been running the road every day knowing that he had injured a cop with his car?” Newman said.

READ: Taxi operators protesting police shooting in Portmore

Newman made a call for proper parking facilities for taxi operators which have been retrofitted to facilitate adequate security protocols.

“The social unrest in the country is affecting the transport sector. If is 17 incidents (two abductions, 8 shootings, 7 deaths) in three months, you can expect four times the amount for the year. We had 39 deaths in the transport sector all of last year,” Newman said.