SPUR TREE, Manchester — Placard-bearing residents of Elliston district near here protested over Tuesday’s shooting death of 31-year-old Audley Walker during a police/military operation, while the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) has expressed concern over the number of fatal shootings involving the security forces in October.

Assistant Commissioner at INDECOM Hamish Campbell said this latest incident brings to 20 the number of fatal shootings for this month thus far.

“All fatal shootings concern INDECOM, and we obviously have a responsibility to investigate them. The level of fatal shootings is always high but this month has seen a particularly large increase — when that is not what we were expecting or wishing to see,” he told the Jamaica Observer on Wednesday.

A report from the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s communication unit said in the latest incident, Walker was fatally shot in a confrontation with the police about 5:55 am, and a 9mm handgun seized in Elliston.

Residents who gathered on the Spur Tree main road on Wednesday claimed Walker, otherwise called Shabba, was awoken from his sleep and killed.

A relative told the Observer that Walker was reporting to the police on a condition of bail for rape following an alleged incident in 2013.

“We need some answers… They [police] claim he was wanted but at the same time, two days ago they stopped him and searched him. Why didn’t you take him at the same time? He reported at the Black River Police Station every Saturday and Wednesday,” said Elliston resident Tanisha Grant.

“He died in his underpants,” she added. Grant has, meanwhile, questioned the police’s report.

“Where is the gun? Where is his body? Nobody can give us information,” said Grant.

Renae Walker, sister of the deceased, claimed her brother was killed in cold blood.

“They [police] came with the intention of killing. My brother was sleeping in his underwear in his room and two shots were fired, he got one. They did not state if he was deceased on the scene. He was shot from 4 o’ clock and was there until [minutes] to 7:00 am, so my brother was bleeding out for three hours,” she said.

She added that the police targeted the homes of her family in the early morning operation.

“They secured four homes and raided them simultaneously. At 4 o’ clock my brother was shot…. At 5:14 the home that I was staying in was knocked down by police, who didn’t identify themselves. They said, ‘Open di door. Wi know seh unuh in deh’…. They searched the house and the property. They took the person they were searching for. They didn’t find any guns,” she said.

She added that several of her family members were detained by the police.

She said her brother has been staying mostly indoors since a shooting incident in Elliston on October 14 which left one man dead and another wounded.

“Once my brother hear bout police ‘im a guh run. My brother naah sleep with gun… There was an incident that happened two weeks ago at the bottom of our community and there have been a lot of police coming to the [area], so from my brother see them he is not staying on the road — he is staying in his house,” she said.