Shawn Marshall

Shawn Marshall, a 29 year-old taxi-operator, of Providence in Flanker, Montego Bay and Spalding, Clarendon, was killed in a reported dramatic peak hour shootout with the police which unfolded along the busy Barnett Street thoroughfare in the city on Wednesday evening. A boy and an elderly man, were also shot and injured while awaiting transportation. As the shooting went on, persons scampered for cover.

Marshall went to a gas station along Barnett Street, Montego Bay on Wednesday evening shortly before 7 to purchase gasoline. However, an encounter with a police inspector at the outlet turned ugly, resulting in his demise. An eyewitness, who was among scores of curious onlookers who converged on the scene as the incident occurred, told the Western Mirror that he saw a police officer trying to pull Marshall out of the white Toyota Corolla Kingfish that he was driving. The eyewitness said that Marshall drove off; the plainclothes policeman, got a cut on one of his hands as he was holding the door.

The eyewitness further added that the officer, who was armed with a gun, started firing shots at the vehicle which was heading down Barnett Street. The shots missed the vehicle which got stuck in traffic. As Marshall tried to get out of the traffic, other policemen, at the Barnett Street (Number 14) Station, which is not far from the outlet where the incident began, ran out and began shooting at the vehicle as well. Di police dem come out and just attack ... when the driver of the car (Marshall) stop dung a Courts, dem shot it up again, the eyewitness revealed.

It is alleged that a man, who was driving in the car with him, escaped and it is believed that he was shot. He was not found up to press time. There were also reports that the escapee had fired at the police; however, the Western Mirror could not get confirmation on that up to press time. Reports also surfaced that Marshall used a piece of iron to hit the police officer, however, various persons, who claimed to have witnessed the incident, refuted those allegations. Marshall, the boy, the elderly man and the police man were taken to hospital. Marshall died, the policeman has been released; the boy and the man remained there yesterday.

Crime scene investigators subsequently blocked off the Barnett Street and St. James Street intersection at the Courts Store where the car came to a stop. As a result, there was a buildup of traffic throughout the downtown area of the city as the cops processed the scene for almost three hours. Many persons experienced difficulties getting transportation.

The family, in the meantime, is accusing the police of cold-*la*hded murder. Marshalls mother, Angela Francis, journeyed from their home in Spalding, Clarendon, after hearing that the second of her three children had been shot dead by the police in Montego Bay, where he had resided for more than five years. When I was at home in Spalding, me hear say police kill me son at a gas station me hear that it was  shootout but people who saw what happen tell me say that is not so, an aggrieved Miss Francis told the Western Mirror. While on the scene, another family member told this reporter that police had been targeting him for a while especially since his mother gave him the car he was driving. The relative said that he had been targetted up to last month by the police in Montego Bay, simply because dem nuh like how him look.

When asked if he had been involved in criminal activities before, the family members insisted that he was not. Miss Francis said that the car, which was driven by the policeman in question, was badly parked. So him say a which b***tyman park yah so? the policeman hear and come out and come to him ask him if a dis him a dis him . that was where the policeman reach fi di keys inna him ignition and when him couldnt get it, him (the policeman) drape him up and tray pull him out of the car. Shawn wind up the window and then drive off, Francis added.

The distraught mother said, in the meantime, that he was a sickle cell patient. She said that he was in hospital last Tuesday receiving treatment for a lung infection he had due to sickle cell. Marshall was a Montego Bay Port Security Corps officer prior to his becoming a taxi-operator.  He had also previously worked as a security guard. He leaves behind a 4 year-old son, Shawn, who has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The Bureau of Special Investigations continues its probe.

Meanwhile, the Western Mirror yesterday received reports that police shot and injured two men in Kings Street, Montego Bay; it is thought that a third man was injured as well. Our newsroom was unable to confirm that up to press time. And the Granville Police yesterday confirmed two men were shot dead in Tucker, St. James