A man police sources claim was a senior member of the notorious Kings Valley Gang and the equally violent Speculation Gang, was fatally shot during an early morning operation by members of the security forces in Westmoreland on Wednesday.

He has been identified as 28-year-old Romaine Murray, otherwise called Bartez or Forty Ball.

According to the police, members of a security forces team were executing a search warrant at a two-apartment board house in the Jerusalem Mountain area of Grange Hill shortly after 5:30 am when Murray fled the premises brandishing a firearm.

The police say he pointed the weapon at them, prompting them to open fire, hitting him. He was taken to Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

A firearm was reportedly recovered at the scene while the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom) has reported that it is investigating the case.

Jamaica Observer sources say Murray, who was a resident of Top Lincoln and Jerusalem Mountain in Grange Hill, was identified as a top-tier operative in the Kings Valley gang, acting on behalf of incarcerated gang leader Derval “Lukie” Williams. He was also linked to the Speculation Gang.

Police intelligence has reportedly linked both gangs to a series of violent crimes across western Jamaica including multiple murders, contract killings, kidnappings, and abductions.

Murray was before the courts for the 2024 murder of Devantae “Wacky” Brown and had been granted bail.

As a condition of his bail he was required to report to the Savanna-la-Mar Police Station every Wednesday and Saturday.

Murray had also been named by the police as a person of interest in the May 8, 2025 abduction of a teacher in Hanover. The sources say Murray organised the abduction and supplied firearms and ammunition to the men who carried out the act.

It was reported that the teacher was forcibly removed from her vehicle about 6:00 am on May 8 in Pell River, Hanover, by three armed men.

The police say, acting on intelligence, teams went that same day to premises in Hanover where the woman was being held and a confrontation allegedly ensued. Two of the abductors were fatally shot, and the police believe that the third suspect managed to escape. Two 9mm pistols were also reportedly seized at the scene.

The deceased were identified as 21-year-old Kevin Gordon, otherwise called Josh, and 27-year-old Christopher Williams, otherwise called Bubba, both of Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland. Gordon was before the court for a September 2023 murder and was reporting to the police on condition of bail.

“Murray was the most-trusted trigger man in the Kings Valley Gang and one who dealt with the logistics when they were going on many of their criminal acts. He was Lukie’s man on the ground, since the gang leader was convicted, and someone we saw as a major violence producer,” one police source told the Observer.

“In addition to the murder he was charged for, we have info linking him to at least four more murders and several shootings, but the cases against him were not yet ready for charges to be laid,” added the source.