Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) chairman Douglas Chambers' murder was supposedly ordered and carried out by members of Spanish Town's notorious Klansman gang, highly reliable sources in that violence-plagued town have told the Sunday Observer.
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| Chambers. sent to JUTC to clean up corruption |
According to our sources, whom we will not name, one of the two gunmen who fired at least 15 shots at Chambers on Friday afternoon is a member of the Klansman gang whose name was on a list of JUTC workers to be made redundant.
"He found out that his name was on the list and went and got approval to kill Mr Chambers," said the source.
Yesterday, when the Sunday Observer contacted the police, they were unable to confirm the source's claim, offering only that they were looking into all the leads they have received.
"There are a number of leads and we are ensuring that all leads are checked before a formal announcement is made," said Karl Angell, the constabulary's director of communication. "A number of statements have been taken and we are encouraged by the information received so far."
He appealed to anyone with information to tell the police what they know by calling Operation Kingfish at 811; Crime Stop at 311; or police control at 119.
Yesterday, as well, National Security Minister Colonel Trevor MacMillan said he had been informed by Police Commissioner Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin that people in the town have been helping police investigators.
"The police commissioner has told me that people in the area have been very co-operative and the matter should come to finality very shortly." MacMillan said in the opening remarks of his address to the Lay Magistrates Association at the Medallion Hall Hotel in St Andrew.
"Douglas Chambers was serving his country for the love of his country. He gave his life for the love of his country." MacMillan said.
Chambers, whom a JUTC worker had threatened to shoot three weeks ago, had taken a break from a meeting at the state-owned bus company's head office at Twickenham Park, just outside Spanish Town, when he was shot.
He was meeting with trade union representatives to discuss the cutting of over 400 jobs at the debt-ridden bus company and, sources say, had gone outside the compound to smoke a cigarette.
According to our sources, the killers, aided by a third man who served as a look-out, were waiting across the street when Douglas exited the JUTC compound.
Police said Douglas, who was sent to the JUTC to clean up corruption and make the company profitable, was shot repeatedly in the head by the two gunmen, one of whom was armed with a high-powered rifle. The other had a .45 handgun.
After committing the murder, the killers escaped in bushes on the outskirts of a community known as 'Fish Ground', a volatile informal settlement which is fiercely loyal to the Klansman gang, a criminal outfit that supports the Opposition People's National Party (PNP).
Police detectives said they found eight .45 spent shells and seven .30 Carbine S & D spent shells on the scene.
Since the early 1990s when it was formed, the Klansman gang has unleashed terror on Spanish Town and has fought deadly street battles with its arch rival, the One Order gang, which supports the ruling Jamaica Labour Party.
Both gangs have benefitted from a lucrative extortion racket in the town and have fought for control of the bus park where they force bus and taxi operators to pay them a fee.
Police blame both gangs for a number of murders and other violent crimes in Spanish Town and had charged Klansman leader Tesha Miller with four counts of murder and three counts of shooting in 2005.
However, Miller absconded bail and fled to the United States, but was deported last year. He was convicted for absconding bail and served nine months.
Miller has been before the courts since then for the original charges, but has been granted bail for the murder charges with specific conditions attached to the bail.
He is said to be at bitter odds with Donald Brown, also known as Negush and Handsome, whom the police have listed as "a Major Person of Interest".
Police have linked Brown to several murders and shootings in the Waterloo, Waterloo Villa, Tredegar Park, Gravel Hill, and Lauriston areas off the Sligoville Road, near to Spanish Town. Brown, who the police say is considered armed and dangerous, is approximately 23 years old, about 5 feet 9 inches tall, is of slim build, weighs about 160 lbs and is of dark complexion.
Brown is the brother of Wayne Dawson, also known as Waynie Bones, who escaped from prison while serving a sentence for murder. Dawson was shot dead by the police in what the cops said was a firefight at Queen Hill in St Andrew recently.
Brown is also the brother of Steve Creary, who was killed recently by unknown assailants in the Spanish Town bus park.
All three brothers were members of the Klansman gang, but following the incarceration of Dawson they switched allegiance to the One Order gang because of a dispute involving former Klansman leader Donovan 'Bulbie' Bennett and Dawson.
Bennett was killed by the police in 2005.
