KINGSTON, Jamaica —A man who police said is a top-tier member of the 33 Lane Gang from Waltham Park Road, St Andrew, has been charged in connection with a murder committed in the community in January.

Andrew Watson, otherwise called ‘Luther’, a 38-year-old farmer from Waltham Park Road, is charged with the brutal murder of 21-year-old Johnathan ‘JJ’ Martin, who resided at 33 Lane.

Watson is charged with murder, possession of a prohibited weapon and unauthorised possession of ammunition.

Investigators revealed that around 8:00 pm on Friday, January 10, several men confronted Martin at his residence and demanded that he leave the area.

The group then beat him with boards before chasing him along Brotherton Avenue, where he was shot and killed.

The perpetrators escaped on motorcycles.

Residents summoned the police, who found Martin’s body along the roadway with gunshot wounds to the head and leg.

Police transported Martin to the Kingston Public Hospital, where doctors pronounced him. Upon processing the scene, lawmen retrieved sixteen 9mm spent casings.

Following intensive investigations by the detectives from the St Andrew South division, Watson was held and taken into custody.

He was interviewed in the presence of his lawyer and charged on Tuesday.

-David Dunkley