UPDATE: Licensed firearm, hammers, machete among weapons used in deadly Manchester domestic dispute —police
MANCHESTER, Jamaica— Detectives assigned to the Manchester police on Tuesday morning returned to the scene of an alleged domestic dispute in Somerset which had left a Constable dead and his wife nursing wounds.
A senior police source told OBSERVER ONLINE that detectives found documents for a licensed pistol, which was reportedly used to shoot their colleague Constable Damien Blair.
The policeman’s head was also bashed in, reports said.
Blair’s wife remains in hospital with a wound to the hand, which investigators theorise was self-inflicted.
It is alleged that sometime after 6:00 pm on Monday, the couple was involved in a domestic dispute at home on Desmond McKenzie Close, formerly Guava Walk Road, when neighbours heard loud explosions.
Blair was subsequently found lying on his back— clad only in his underpants— at the gateway to the couple’s house on a dirt road with gunshot wounds and a head injury.
Police responded and found Blair’s wife with a wound to her hand. She was taken to hospital and admitted.
READ: Cop shot dead in Manchester – Wife under police guard in hospital
The police source confirmed that investigators found the licensed pistol and evidence of items used during the dispute, including two hammers and a machete at the couple’s house.
On Monday night, scores of residents crowded the dirt road near the scene.
Residents and relatives of Blair claimed that the couple was embroiled in disputes for several years during their 13-year relationship— of which they were married for about eight years.
“They keep on fighting, but I never expected this,” Blair’s relative said.
“They were getting counselling because they were getting a divorce. Then she fell ill and admitted in the hospital and he took care of her and him say hear wah me naa bother divorce because she just want somebody to take care of her,” added the relative.
Relatives say Blair has been a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force for over two decades.
— Kasey Williams