Two dead as gunmen abduct and rob Portmore residents

The St Catherine South police with the assistance of the Jamaica Defence Force are still searching for a gunman who, along with an accomplice, abducted a man and woman and forced them to withdraw money before killing the man and dumping his body.

The other gunman was later killed by police during a confrontation. The police said the male and female were abducted from their Gregory Park, Portmore, St Catherine, home at gunpoint and taken to the Corporate Area where they were forced to use ATM cards to withdraw $100,000 from different accounts. The gunmen then drove the persons back to Portmore where they took the male from the car, shot him and dumped his body in mangroves along the Hellshire main road. A special operation team that was tracking the vehicle in which the gunmen were travelling on Wednesday, tried to apprehend the occupants, who led the police on a chase towards the Fort Clarence beach. The vehicle reportedly crashed in the vicinity of the beach. The occupants alighted from the disabled car and engaged the police team in a running gun battle. One of the gunmen was fatally shot while the other escaped into the nearby mangroves.

Deputy Superintendent of Police in charge of operations Earle Grant said that the lawmen hoped the gunman can provide valuable intelligence.

"We took him to the Spanish Town Hospital with a view of saving his life because we needed more information on the gangs that are committing these types of crimes within Portmore and the Kingston metropolitan area," said Grant. He said no firearms were recovered but the search continues for the second gunman. Although there have been previous incidents in which robbers forced persons to use ATM cards to get money, Grant said it was too early to say whether this was a new trend.

The news team understands that drones are being used by the security forces to continue the search for the other gunman.