Autopsy reveals journalist was not shot to death

Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey yesterday revealed that, according to an autopsy, late sports journalist Job Nelson was killed by a metal object expelled from the airbag of his car, and not by a bullet.

It was initially reported that Nelson was shot and killed at a traffic light along Spanish Town Road, near St Andrew Technical High School, in South St Andrew, on May 21, hours after leaving work. However, the post-mortem found that Nelson was mortally wounded by a metal object which was discharged with "immense force" from the airbag in his car after it crashed along Spanish Town Road. The autopsy was conducted at the House of Tranquillity Funeral Home yesterday.

Bailey, who heads the Criminal Investigations Branch, said the finding was not a surprise, as the crime scene was "thoroughly processed" and no spent casings or bullet fragments were found in the area or inside the car. He also told the news team that there was nothing to indicate that a bullet was fired into the vehicle.

"So the findings of the autopsy would not be surprising to us," he said.

"When he was initially taken to the hospital, the doctor thought he had gotten a gunshot," Bailey said, pointing to a possible reason for the initial report about how Nelson died.

According to the autopsy, the metal object discharged from the airbag of the 2007 Honda Fit Aria pierced the body of the 53-year-old veteran journalist, causing damage to his lungs and resulted in internal bleeding.

"The cause of death was given as a penetrating wound to the chest caused by the metal object from the airbag," said a police source, who did not want to be named because they were not authorised to discuss the case publicly.

The metal object was removed during the post-mortem.