Schoolgirl killed in Big Yard shootout

A 14-YEAR-OLD schoolgirl was killed last night during a shootout between gunmen and police in Big Yard, Carenage.

There were unconfirmed reports that two other people were shot dead while several others, including a policeman identified only as PC Peltier, were taken to hospital all suffering from gunshot wounds.

It was reported that undercover police officers were on enquiries in an unmarked vehicle in Big Yard when they were fired upon by a group of gunmen last evening. Officers returned fire and during the exchange, several people who were liming on the road ran for cover.

Rapid gunfire coupled with loud screams were heard, eyewitnesses later told Newsday. When the shooting ended, two people lay on the roadside bleeding from gunshot wounds. Police late last night confirmed that Naomi Nelson, 14, a Form Two student of the East Mucurapo Secondary School was killed during the shootout.

Police could not confirm the identity of the other victims although social media users wrote on their Facebook pages that three were killed including a man identified only as Dequan.

After the gunmen who were on the road ran off, residents turned on the undercover police officers – not knowing that they were lawmen – and declared that "the war now start." The officers immediately called for back-up and Newsday was told that a convoy of heavily-armed police officers from the Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB), as well as soldiers from Teteron Barracks, hurriedly went to Big Yard to maintain law and order.

With police and soldiers manning street corners in Big Yard up to 11.30 pm, a tense calm pervaded the area where earlier gunshots were traded between gunmen and lawmen. Police sources said that the soldiers and GEB officers received instructions to remain in Big Yard throughout the night.

Efforts to reach Police Commissioner Gary Griffith for a comment last night proved futile as calls to his cellphone went unanswered.