KINGSTON, Jamaica – The family of a man said to have been mentally-ill is calling for a speedy investigation into the circumstances surrounding his killing during an alleged confrontation with members of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) in August Town, St Andrew on Monday.

The deceased has been identified as 34-year-old Ricardo Gayle, of the community.

Reports are that sometime after 3 am, there was a confrontation between members of the JDF and the deceased at the Zone of Special Operations (ZOSO) checkpoint in August Town, when he was fatally shot by one of the soldiers.

He was rushed to the University Hospital of the West Indies where he was pronounced dead.

“They shouldn’t kill my cousin suh, he wasn’t a gunman,” a distraught woman at the scene told Observer Online. “He’s not a gunman and a three gunshot dem give him… we need justice, he was a sick man!”

Gayle’s mother, Melissa Bennett, was grief-stricken at the scene and at one point had to be consoled as she broke down in tears.

“My son [was] mentally-ill,” she said. “I am just lost for words right now.”

According to Bennett, her son was reportedly shot once in the chest and two times in the back.

She and other family members said the incident was especially senseless considering that Gayle was well known to members of the security forces in the community who often assisted with phone-related issues.

“My son was a very brilliant individual… he does not like violence… he was a genius in the technology world, him fix phone for all the police dem,” she said.

(Video: Llewellyn Wynter)