BRISSETT
WESTERN BUREAU:
THIRTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD reggae singer Gregory Brissett, popularly known as 'Easy Cool', who hails from Mt. Salem in Montego Bay, St. James, was shot and killed by a police patrol in his home community on Friday night after he was reportedly found with a firearm and tried to flee.
According to eyewitnesses to the incident, at about 7:30 p.m., the singer and a friend were standing before a stall along the Mt. Salem main road, in the vicinity of Campbell's Lane, when a police patrol pulled up. A member of the police party approached Brissett and demanded "a search".
"He told the policeman he had an illegal firearm in his possession and the weapon was taken off him," the eyewitness said. "I don't know what happened next but he ran off towards the nearby Katon Lane and the police chased him. Shortly after, I heard several shots."
SHOTS FIRED
Other eyewitnesses said that, while attempting to jump a wall that led into a relative's yard, the singer was fired on by one of the chasing policemen and he fell to the ground. The lawmen reportedly went into the yard after him and several additional explosions were heard.
When curious onlookers closed in on the scene, Brissett, who was clad in a jeans suit, was seen lying on the ground covered in blood. Shortly after, a policeman emerged from the direction where he was first accosted and held up a gun in the air, proclaiming that, "is not a innocent man dead, see wha him did got yah."
While declaring that they were not in support of guns and gunmanship, the residents of the community expressed disgust at the manner in which Brissett was killed, contending that since he had been disarmed and was not a threat to the police, he should not have been killed.
In their account of the incident, the police said Brissett was spotted with a firearm and when accosted, he ran and the police gave chase. They said he was subsequently cornered in a yard on Katon Lane and was shot dead after he pulled a firearm from his waistband and pointed it at them.
FORMER LEAD SINGER
Brissett, who was on the verge of being signed to an American recording company, was once the lead singer for the award-winning Jumanji Show Band at Montego Bay's Coral Cliff Gaming Lounge. He was also quite popular on the north coast cabaret circuit before breaking away to establish a recording career.
Ironically, Brissett's debut single, which is entitled, "I know how it feels to be hungry', was only released last week.
