Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

National Security Minister Col Trevor MacMillan (left) gets a 'high five' from eight-year-old D'Jevani Lawrence, son of slain Police Constable Delano Lawrence, during a visit to the bereaved family's home in Harbour View, Kingston, yesterday. Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ken Baugh, and Constable Lawrence's widow, Camille, look on. MacMillan and Baugh also visited the family of Constable Cornel Grant in Olympic Gardens, St Andrew. Both policemen were shot dead by gunmen in west Kingston on Friday. - JIS photo

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER of Police Mark Shields yesterday said the police were hot on the trail of the gunmen who killed two constables - Cornell Grant and Delano Lawrence - in Trench Town, west Kingston, last Friday.

"We have some strong leads and a good idea of the people who committed the murders," Shields told The Gleaner.

He said a police team revisited the crime scene Friday and found a trail of blood, which suggested that one of the gunmen was hit during the exchange with the policemen. A sample of the blood was taken for DNA tests.

Shields also addressed the fears of some Trench Town residents, who staged a demonstration there Saturday, saying they were worried about police reprisals for the murders of the constables.

"They should have no worry, I can assure them," Shields said.

Gov't support promised

Yesterday, acting Prime Minister Kenneth Baugh, National Security Minister Trevor MacMillan and Minister in charge of Women's and Gender Affairs, Olivia Grange, visited the families of the slain policemen.

The Government has promised all the support possible to the families.

During a visit with Constable Lawrence's widow, Camille, and eight-year-old son, D'Jhevani, in Harbour View, Baugh said the killings were devastating. He said Prime Minister Bruce Golding would contact the families once he returned to Jamaica from England late yesterday.

MacMillan described the killings as distressing and most unfortunate.

The government party then visited Constable Grant's home in Olympic Gardens, where they met the mother of his child, Ann Marie Benjamin, and his four-year-old son, Cornell.

Constable Grant was assigned to the Denham Town Police Station, while Constable Lawrence worked at the Admiral Town precinct. The police report that they were gunned down while on foot patrol with two other colleagues.

Their deaths have brought to five the number of police personnel killed since the start of the year.

Sympathy from overseas

Yesterday, the Jamaican Diaspora Canada Foundation also sympa-thised with the families.

"Our sympathies and love go also to the larger family of police officers and to the people of Jamaica who are under constant assault by the type of persons who pulled the triggers of the high-powered weapons used to slay these young officers who were doing their jobs," Phillip Mascoll, president of the foundation, said in a statement yesterday.