INDECOM opens inquiry after two die in Spanish Town police shooting

The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) is examining the deaths of two men shot by officers during a police operation in Spanish Town, St Catherine, on Wednesday night.

Authorities have named one of the dead as Xavier Flowers, a 22-year-old labourer also known as 'Blacks', who lived at 31 St John's Road in Spanish Town. The other man has been identified only by the street name 'Gunners' and is said to be from Waltham Park Road in Kingston.

According to reports, at about 9:20 p.m. on July 8 police mounted an intelligence-led operation after a pump attendant was robbed and shot at a filling station on Deanery Road in Kingston earlier the same day. Closed-circuit television footage showed three men carrying out that attack, and officers set out to find the suspects.

A police party is said to have gone to part of 31 St John's Road, where several men were observed. The officers reportedly announced themselves as police, and the men are alleged to have opened fire. Police fired back, and once the gunfire stopped, two men were found with injuries consistent with gunshot wounds.

An HS2000 9mm pistol, with a magazine holding four rounds, was reportedly seized at the location. The wounded men were taken to Spanish Town Hospital and were pronounced dead there.

INDECOM is looking into how the fatal shooting unfolded.