The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

POLICE discovered the dead body of a man who was being electronically monitored with bruises about the neck in a house in the Shirley Street area yesterday.

Hours earlier, shortly after 11pm on Wednesday, another man was shot dead on West Bay Street.

Superintendent B K Bonamy Jr, head of homicide investigations at the Central Detective Unit, said officers received a tip around 4.40pm that led them to an abandoned home on Shirley Park Lane off Shirley Street.

According to Supt Bonamy, officers discovered the body face down in an eastern room of the house. He said the man was wearing blue jeans and an ankle bracelet.

“At this time we are unsure of the cause of death,” he told The Tribune at the scene. “We intend to perform an autopsy to determine just that but at this time we are unsure of the circumstances surrounding this death. Officers first on the scene made the discovery, contacted EMS personnel and those EMS personnel ruled that this adult male had been dead for more than a day.”

Police declined to identify the victim or clarify if the ankle monitor led officers to the discovery.

Officers are also investigating the shooting death of a 28-year-old man.

Chief Superintendent Paul Rolle said nine people were taken into custody in connection with the incident.

Police have not released his identity, but The Tribune understands that the victim is Keron Dean of Derby Road, Yellow Elder Gardens.

In February, 2012, Dean was convicted of possession of a .39 pistol and ammunition and sentenced to two years on each count. The sentences ran concurrently. Early in the following year he was successful in a no case submission for an armed robbery committed in November 2012. On September 24 last year he appeared before a magistrate seeking bail. The case was adjourned to October 1 last year. It is presumed that he was out on bail when he was shot.

The victim, police said, got into an argument with another man in the area of the Land Shark Hotel on West Bay Street, which spilled over into the street.

Chief Supt Rolle said a police officer who was passing saw the incident and tried to assist when a shot was fired at Dean.

The officer then chased the gunman who was picked up by persons inside a Nissan Premiera.

The officer called for back up and police chased and intercepted the vehicle, leading to the arrest of a group of people.

The victim was declared dead at the scene and the firearm allegedly used to carry out the murder was also confiscated by police, Chief Supt Rolle said.

These latest killings pushed the country’s homicide count to 15 for the first 41 days of this year, according to The Tribune’s records.

Anyone with information on these incidents is asked to contact police at the Central Detective Unit at 502-9991, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 328-TIPS or call your nearest police station.