ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica – A man listed as a murder suspect by the St Elizabeth police, was shot and killed during a confrontation with police officers on Saturday.

He is Christopher McKen, a 27-year-old unemployed man of a Top Hill, Junction address. The murder case he was connected to was not made known by the police.

According to Acting Superintendent Coleridge Minto, Head of the St Elizabeth police, “sometime after midnight, the information that we received is that men travelling on a motorbike were planning to commit a robbery of a returning resident”.

“A police team intercepted two men travelling on a bike along the Top Hill main road which led to a confrontation between the men and the police. One man was shot and injured, and was taken to the hospital where he later died,” Minto added.

Minto said McKen was a murder suspect in a matter that was being investigated by the police.

The acting superintendent said Mcken was also being investigated for several robberies committed in the parish. He said one .380 Smith and Wesson pistol with two .380 cartridges were recovered. The other man managed to escape.

Said Minto: “Quite a number of robberies have been taking place in the area by men travelling on motorcycles. Over the past week a total of 43 bikes have been seized by the police. Most of the bikes were unregistered, uninsured, the drivers were driving without driver’s licence. In almost all cases the persons held were not wearing any helmets”.

Minto also revealed that over the last three days 23 persons were arrested for driving without a drivers’ licence among other offences.