THE Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI), was yesterday called in to investigate an incident in which two men were shot and injured by a policeman along Cassia Park Avenue in Kingston.

In protest against the shooting, residents blocked sections of Cassia Park Avenue. However, the busy roadway was quickly cleared by police officers from the Half-Way-Tree Station.

The police reported that a team of officers along with personnel from the Transport Authority were conducting an operation along Constant Spring Road when a car was signaled to stop. However, the driver disobeyed the officers’ command and continued driving. “He was chased and held along Molynes Road. While the police were taking the man away, an angry mob that had congregated hurled missiles at the police car. The policemen discharged his service firearm and it was later discovered that two men had been shot and injured,” the Constabulary Communication Network reported.

The residents, however, alleged that a policeman began arguing with the crowd before firing five shots into a crowd and speeding off. One man, known only as “Boysie”, was shot in the abdominal region and was taken to the Kingston Public Hospital. The other man was shot in the shoulder, the residents claimed.

The protesters told the Observer that the police held an illegal taxi operator along Molynes Road after he alighted from the vehicle he was driving and tried to escape on foot. He was chased and held by a male officer who hit him in the face with his service firearm leaving a gaping wound before beating the man badly, the demonstrators said.

When the police handcuffed the taxi operator and was about to drive off, a man who claimed to be an eyewitness reported, someone in the crowd threw a stone at the police car. “The policeman then turned his gun into the crowd and opened fire before speeding off in the direction of Red Hills Road,” he alleged.

Here, police officers maintain order following the roadblock by the Cassia Park Avenue residents.