Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer
A woman being comforted as she mourns the murder of Inspector Walsh on Port Royal Street, downtown Kingston, yesterday. - JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
GUNSHOTS BROKE the morning calm and shattered sections of the Cross Roads Police Station in St. Andrew yesterday morning, leaving one policeman dead and his colleagues in shock.
The policeman, 63-year-old District Constable Canute Brown, was reportedly killed while standing outside the station, by gunmen travelling in a grey car at about 5:30 a.m. Another policeman, who at the time was a few feet away from DC Brown, escaped injury.
Corporal O.A. Thompson of the Cross Roads Police Station, one of six persons at the precinct at the time of the shooting, told The Gleaner that DC Brown died from gunshots to the head and left arm.
"It was a barrage of shots, it lasted for several seconds," said Corporal Brown. "When we went outside we found him lying on the ground in a pool of blood."
ESCAPED DOWN SLIPE ROAD
Corporal Thompson said the gunmen's car sped down Slipe Road following the shooting.
A bullet-riddled vehicle and concrete columns blown away by bullets apparently from high-powered weapons showed the extent of the assault, which Errol George Mason, peer counsellor for the St. Andrew Central Police Division, says has left personnel at the station anxious.
"They're shocked, they are depressed, they are traumatised and they are worried because of this sudden incident," said Mr. Mason.
Five hours after the shooting, a curious crowd which included schoolchildren and adults heading to work, encircled the station. Jamaica Manufacturers' Association president, Beverley Lopez, was among several well-known business persons who visited the precinct to give moral support.
