Gareth Manning, Gleaner Writer

The police were kept busy yesterday at the Kingston Public Hospital after a large crowd converged on the institution following the shooting death of three men by the police in Denham Town, west Kingston. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

As the country's official murder toll climbed to 1,105, a series of incidents in west Kingston yesterday added four others to the list of those killed since the start of the year.

In the most controversial of the three incidents, the shooting death of three men and injuring of two others in west Kingston left residents of Denham Town livid with the security forces.

Residents angry

According to the police, there was a joint police-military team on operation in the area yesterday afternoon, when about 10 men were seen in the Little Water Street area of Denham Town. An exchange of gunfire then ensued and five men were found suffering from gunshot wounds. They were taken to hospital where three were pronounced dead and two others admitted for injuries. The other men escaped.

However, a flurry of residents who descended on the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) claimed there was no shoot-out and that the police attacked the house.

"The man dem no have no gun. If them did have gun then the police them woulda get shot to," one woman told our news team. "Is another Braeton seven them waan bring come a west Kingston."

Superintendent of Police in charge of the west Kingston division, Delroy Hewitt, said one of the men killed was identified as Dwight Pikton, who was wanted in connection with close to half a dozen murders in west Kingston, including the shooting death of a footballer in the Torrington Park community, while the another was identified only as 'Sharp Shooter' also of a Torrington Park address. He was also wanted for a number of murders.

The other man was not identified at press time last night.

Two 9mm pistols were reportedly recovered from the scene.

The Bureau of Special Investiga-tion is probing the shooting.

Bus terminus killing

Meanwhile, in an earlier incident at the Kingston bus terminus on Darling Street, 35-year-old Oneil Grant, of Grove Road in Kingston 10, was reportedly approached by two men who opened fire hitting him.

He was pronounced dead at hospital.

A woman who operates a cook shop was shot and injured in another section of the division.