Questions about the shooting incident at the MoBay police station | Lead stories

Western office:

Yesterday there were questions surrounding Saturday night’s bizarre shooting at the Freeport Police Station in Montego Bay, St James. While initial reports, including from an alleged eyewitness, suggested that a police officer in the cell block was disarmed and fired his weapon at the law enforcement officer and two inmates, the official version of the incident paints a different picture.

According to the official police report released yesterday through the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s daily incident report, at approximately 7:30 p.m. a prisoner identified as 35-year-old Christopher “Bigfoot” Campbell of Maggotty District, St. Elizabeth, After an argument in the cell block, he picked up a gun that a police officer had placed under a desk and used it to shoot a fellow inmate and a police officer.

The report states: “…an argument broke out between five prisoners in the cell block, which resulted in a physical altercation. During this altercation, prisoner Chrisopher (sic) Campbell suffered stab wounds to the upper body. Police officers responded to the incident and attempted to intervene. An off-duty police officer armed with a firearm placed the said firearm under a desk in the annex and joined the police team to quell the situation.

“Campbell was taken by police to the area in question where the firearm was planted. Campbell took the gun, pointed it at one of the police officers and ordered him to open the gate to the cell block. Fearing for his life, the officer opened the gate and let Campbell into the cell block. Campbell then fired the firearm in question toward another prisoner…hitting him on the left side of the neck. Campbell then fired several more shots in the cell area. During this time, a police officer was grazed in the left hand by a bullet.”

The official police report on the incident differs The Gleaner was reported by a reliable source who was present at the police station and claims to have seen what was going on and reported the incident in real time as it unfolded just after 7:30 p.m

“Damn, a Freeport police station… a prisoner disarms a police officer and a bus shot into the cell block,” the frantic caller said The Gleaner. “The police ran out of the building… a commotion. It appears the prisoner with the weapon is at large on station property.”

Barricaded himself in a cell

By the time the news team arrived at the police station around 8:45 p.m., the incident had already been reported to the public on social media via The Gleaner.

A police officer at the scene, asked for an update on the situation, said the prisoner who took the gun from the officer had barricaded himself in a cell and a standoff was underway. He then left and said he would ask a senior official to speak to the reporter.

A short time later, the police officer returned alone and gestured that he could not make a senior officer available to speak to the media.

The situation was tense over the next two hours as military personnel, Independent Commission of Inquiry staff, a priest and two units of the St James Fire Brigade arrived on the scene amid hectic activity. But after a while the soldiers, the priest and the firefighters left, although there was no sign that the situation was under control.

During interactions between police personnel on the scene, both with their colleagues and over their phones, it was suggested that the officer who had his weapon taken away may have breached protocol as it was against the rules, a To take the weapon into the cell block.

Shortly after 11pm, community police commander Superintendent Eron Samuels, who was reportedly on an official police operation in Kingston when the incident began, arrived at the scene. Without acknowledging the media, he went straight to the cell area. A police officer who was seen coming from the direction of the cell block reported The Gleaner that the prisoner had given up the weapon.

Shortly after midnight, as the media waited for an official response from senior officials who were reportedly locked in a meeting, journalists were asked to leave the site as the crime scene unit was about to begin photographing parts of the facility, starting at the gate.

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