Two JDF soldiers recuperating after shootout with gunman

Two Jamaica Defence Force soldiers are now recovering in hospital from gunshot wounds they received after they were engaged in a firefight with a gunman in Homestead, Spanish Town, Thursday morning.

Reports are that a joint police military patrol was conducting an operation in the Mansfield Avenue area of Homestead at about 5:30 a.m., when they encountered an individual acting suspiciously, who opened fire on them.

A firefight ensued and, during the exchange, the two soldiers were shot, one in the abdomen and the other in the left leg. The gunman was also shot and was pronounced dead at the Spanish Town Hospital. A firearm was recovered from the scene.

One eyewitness told The Gleaner that “gun shots were flying all over the place”.

“A whole heap a shot fire, and, when it stop and mi come out, mi see the soldier with blood a come from just below him vest. Another one a them ripe off the vest, and them put him and the other one who look like him get shot inna him foot in a de vehicle and rush off with them,” the eyewitness recounted.

According to the eyewitness, the dead man had been seen in and around the community for quite sometime, linking up with other men in the area.

The police have not released the name of the dead gunman. However, a high-ranking police source told The Gleaner that the deceased man was from the Big Lane community in Spanish Town, and has figured prominently on the police’s radar for various crimes, including a double murder.