Corporal Oliver Mullings Jr told his wife “goodbye” three times on the ill-fated day he went to work. Neither of them knew that would be the last time they would exchange a laugh or such a moment of affection as several hours later, the 46-year-old policeman was cut down in a hail of bullets while on duty in Trench Town.

“Junior’s wife told me that he told her goodbye three times, and when she asked him why he was telling her so often, Junior told his wife, ‘goodbye can’t too much’ that was the Thursday evening when he was leaving for work,” Oliver Mullings Snr , the father of the slain cop, told OBSERVER ONLINE.

“He left not knowing that it was his last goodbye he was telling her.”

The cop was one of six siblings, the second to last one for his parents, and also the namesake of his father.

“This hurts, this is the first child that I have lost, this is very hard, very hard, but my church brothers and sisters from Old Harbour Seventh Day Adventist are supporting us. My wife is shedding tears, but we are getting the support and prayers, we’re trying to cope, but friends, schoolmates and relatives are calling me, and pure bawling here in Old Harbour, he was well loved,” the father of six said.

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“He was a compassionate person, very kind, he was well loved here in Old Harbour, he is an Adventist Christian. Whenever there is a flare up in communities, he would go there with the Victim Support Unit and stay there and counsel people. And if he had money, he would give it to the needy willingly. Since Oliver’s death, a woman came to us and say she don’t know how she going to manage cause the last time she saw Junior, he told her he would leave something for her, and he took out 2000 and left it under a rock under a newspaper, covered it and told her how to find it…2,000 dollars, he was a kind man,” he said.

Mullings Jr, who had attended both St Jago High and Vere Technical schools, was killed in the Kingston Western Police Division while on duty on October 20. He was a 19-year veteran of the force.

His death is made even more tragic given that he was the sole surviving parent for his daughter. Mullings’ daughter lost her mother, Madene Blackwood-Saunders, a woman sergeant, two years ago in October 2020 following a motor vehicle crash along the Mandela Highway in the Corporate Area. The cops were travelling in a police service vehicle along the busy roadway when the driver lost control of the car. She had been assigned to the St Catherine South police division.

“My grand-daughter is coping, she is with my son’s wife who is taking great care of her. They are devastated but we all have to be strong,” he said.

Mullings Jr is also survived by a son with his wife.

The elder Mullings said his son was very brave.

“He was very brave, a natural crime fighter. He had never been shot before but he had been in confrontations. While he was living with me, he told me once that he was travelling through a shortcut when two men attempted to rob him and he was quick on the draw there and able to defend himself and he shot one of his attackers and that one succumbed to his injuries and the other one escaped,” Mullings Snr said.

However, Mullings Jr wasn’t able to survive his latest confrontation with criminals.

At about 10:45 pm that day, the corporal was among a team of officers who responded to a call from residents in the area, when they were attacked by gunmen, a Jamaica Constabulary Force statement said.

One of the gunmen was reportedly killed in the incident. The Police High Command condemned the killings. At the time, Mullings was the second cop killed in less than a week.

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