THE police have reported that a planned contract killing was thwarted on Monday following a blazing gun battle that left five men dead and the suspected gang leader on the run.

According to the police, acting on intelligence a team from the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch (C-TOC) travelled to premises in the upscale St Andrew community of Jack’s Hill about 12:40 pm.

The police say the members of the C-TOC team came under heavy gunfire when they arrived at the premises. The police returned the fire and, according to people in the area at the time, a running gun battle ensued.

“When the shootings subsided, five men were seen with gunshot wounds. They were taken to hospital where they were pronounced dead,” the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) said in a late evening media release.

According to the JCF, four firearms — a shotgun, an M16 rifle, a Glock pistol, and a Taurus pistol — were seized following the firefight.

The JCF said no member of the C-TOC team was injured during the clash but a sixth man, who Jamaica Observer sources say fired several shots at the cops with a high-powered weapon, escaped.

Up to press time Monday night the police were conducting operations in a number of Corporate Area communities in search of the gangster who managed to evade them in Jack’s Hill.

The police did not name any of the dead men, or the man who is believed to have escaped, but the JCF asked alleged gang leader Courtney Ashley, otherwise called Bloodstain, to report to C-TOC.

Bloodstain, also called Alien, has been on the most wanted list of the St Andrew South Police Division since 2022.

He is wanted in connection with six murders, shooting, wounding with intent, and other crimes.

When the Observer arrived at the scene police were tight-lipped about what exactly happened.

In the meantime, the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom), which is probing the Monday afternoon fatal shootings by the police, said the full picture around the incident is not yet clear.

Assistant commissioner of Indecom Hamish Campbell said that investigations were ongoing and interviews with the cops involved will be conducted as part of the process to determine what exactly happened.

“If the police have announced that it was a contract killing, no one knows that except the police,” said Campbell.

“So, we have to take a more measured approach. There is one narrative that comes from the police, and Indecom provides some of the basic facts. We can confirm five people have been shot and killed earlier this afternoon [Monday] at that address in Jack’s Hill, the guns have been recovered, but in terms of the actual circumstances of how the shooting occurred, why it occurred, and everything else is yet to be determined,” added Campbell.