WATCH: Cop’s killing leaves family ‘numb’ – 22-y-o was determined to escape poverty, says aunt
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Constable Brian Martin had just arrived in Frog City for a visit with his mother when he was brutally gunned down on Saturday night.
Martin and four others, including a 10-year-old child, were shot at a wake on Ricketts Avenue in the Kingston 13 community.
The 22-year-old cop, who was shot in the face, died while undergoing treatment while the other four persons were admitted in hospital.
On Sunday morning, the late cop’s aunt, Natalie Hamilton, remembered her nephew as a quiet, hardworking young man who was determined to escape poverty and provide for his mother.
READ: Cop killed at wake identified
“Ask anybody about Martin, they describe him as ‘the one weh nuh talk’… he decided that him ah hold up him head outta poverty, take him mother out of poverty…and him guh ah school, get him subject dem and turn police…. And this is the result,” the distraught aunt told OBSERVER ONLINE.
“It rough… We want justice for this, him mother nah tek it easy… it’s shocking,” Hamilton said, describing the tragedy as unexplainable.
Information reaching OBSERVER ONLINE is that about 10pm, men armed with M16 rifles entered the premises where the wake was being held and opened gunfire hitting Martin and the four other victims.
In the meantime, the Police High Command has condemned Martin’s murder.
“The police will not be deterred by this latest attack. They will continue their focus on ridding communities of guns, gunmen and gangs who continue to cause death, pain and mayhem,” the high command said in a statement.
“Furthermore, we will be relentless in our pursuit in bringing those criminals to justice.”
Anyone with information that may assist with this investigation is encouraged to contact Crime Stop at 311 or the Police 119 emergency number.
The force’s Chaplaincy Branch and Welfare Department are providing support to the family members, friends and colleagues of Martin, who was assigned to the Half -Way- Tree Police Station.