INDECOM opens probe after two killed in Spanish Town police shooting

The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) is examining the fatal shooting of two men by police during an operation in Spanish Town, St. Catherine, on Wednesday night, July 8, 2026.

One of the deceased has been identified as 22-year-old Libra Zavier Flowers, also known as Blacks, of 31 St. John’s Road, Spanish Town. The second man has been identified only by the alias Gunners and is said to be from Waltham Park Road in Kingston.

Police reports say officers launched an intelligence-led search about 9:20 p.m. after a pump attendant was robbed and shot earlier that day at a service station along Diner Road in Kingston. Three men were captured on CCTV during that attack. Officers later went to a section of 31 St. John’s Road where a group of men was seen. Police said they identified themselves, the men allegedly opened fire, and officers returned fire. When the shooting stopped, two men were found with apparent gunshot wounds. An HS 2000 9mm pistol with a magazine holding four rounds was reportedly recovered. The injured men were taken to Spanish Town Hospital and pronounced dead. INDECOM is probing the circumstances.

In a separate matter, Franklin Brown and Nicholas Thomas, of Trelawny, were acquitted on Wednesday of murder after a parish court judge found insufficient evidence to commit them to the circuit court. The men had been charged in connection with the death of Milton Morris, 53, in Duncan, Trelawny, on January 30, 2025. Attorney Donovan Collins, who represented both, said a proper investigation might have spared them a murder charge. A police witness statement described a man striking Morris on the head with a large metal pan; Morris died in hospital nearly a month later. Collins said the man who dealt the blow was not before the court and remains at large, and that there was no evidence his clients acted with that person. Brown and Thomas each spent one month in custody before bail.

Also on Tuesday, 21-year-old Briana Taylor, a Portmore Community College student, and 22-year-old InDrive operator Michael Angling of Brighton, Portmore, were shot and killed while in a vehicle on Molynes Road in Olympic Gardens, St. Andrew, about 3:50 p.m. A third occupant escaped unhurt. Detectives from the Major Investigation Division are on the case. Taylor’s mother, Marina Haynes Taylor, said she had sent her only daughter to a mall in Portmore for groceries, insurance proof and two patties. She later learned her child was dead. “I sent her to the mall to get some stuff, pay my insurance, and buy two patties for me,” she said. Their last exchange ended with Briana saying, “Mommy, I’m getting ready. I’m getting ready.” After a call directing her to Tranquility Funeral Home, Haynes Taylor said, “That is when hell broke loose with me.” She asked, “Why kill my daughter?” Police say a manhunt is under way for the killers.