AN ALLEGED gang leader, who was the main target of Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams and former members of the Crime Management Unit's controversial visit to Kraal district, Clarendon, on May 7, turned himself in to the National Firearm and Drug Intelligence Centre (NFDIC), downtown Kingston, yesterday.
Bashington Douglas, alias 'Chen Chen', was charged but will be asked to give a statement which may be used as testimony in the shootings at Kraal in which four persons were shot and killed by the police.
"Douglas has been charged with two counts of shooting and one count of murder," head of the Centre, Assistant Commissioner, Osbourne Dyer, told The Gleaner yesterday. The crimes for which he has been charged are alleged to have occurred eight years ago in Spanish Town while Douglas was living there.
Douglas is expected to appear in court next week. According to police reports, members of the disbanded Crime Management Unit (CMU) had gone to the district in search of a group of gunmen who they believed were hiding at a house in the community.
The police said that on their arrival they were greeted with gunfire from the house and that, during the exchange of gunfire, four persons were shot and killed. But, residents denied that there were any shoot-out and claimed the victims were executed by the police.
Speaking on the progress of the investigations, Deputy Commissioner, Lucius Thomas, who is also head of a committee monitoring the probe into the matter, said the police were now only awaiting forensic and ballistic reports to send the file off to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Kent Pantry, for a ruling.
The police are also awaiting the return of Scotland Yard detectives who, two weeks ago, took back to the United Kingdom several items that they had removed from the scene at Kraal. Reports are that the items, which include doors, windows and clothing, were to undergo further processing at a crime laboratory in the UK.
