‘Community mom’ killed in shooting at police station

Residents of Ewarton, St Catherine, remain in shock over the untimely death of one of their own - Dawn Palmer.

It is reported that the 54-year-old was accidentally shot by a policeman as he fired at a man who had attacked him at the Ewarton Police Station last Thursday. When THE STAR visited the area yesterday, a few of Palmer's family members were gathered outside her gate. They all wore a sombre expression and were too devastated to speak with the news team. Councillor and neighbour of the deceased Daniel Tingling described the incident as extremely unfortunate.

"She was a well-known person and everyone in the community and all of the police over by the station knew her. We live in a family-oriented community and to lose a member like that is really sad and disheartening. It is very unfortunate," he said. Tingling described Palmer as being extremely hard-working and said she played a motherly role to the younger persons living within the space.

"She was a loving person and was like a mother to all of us growing up as kids. She was a very hard worker and was also a father. She planted sugar cane in Clarendon. She grow all her children without a man. I tell you man that she wasn't the type to depend on a man. She was their mother and father," he said.

According to police reports, at 8 p.m., a member of the police team was reportedly collecting a statement from someone when the man - who is believed to be of unsound mind - barged into the building with a machete. He was reportedly instructed to drop the weapon, but instead swung at the policeman who retreated to the guardroom. The man pursued the policeman inside the room and the policeman reportedly discharged one round in the direction of his attacker, who was wounded in the abdomen. Palmer was also hit. Palmer and the machete-wielding man were taken to the Linstead Hospital for treatment, however, she succumbed to her injuries about 7:45 a.m. Saturday. The man remains hospitalised.