Crime scene detectives leave the area where the body of Damion Burgess, who was involved in a shoot-out with the police in the hotbed community of Cassava Piece in St Andrew, lay yesterday. (Photo: Lionel Rookwoood)

A feud that had its genesis in partisan politics and escalated into a deadly turf war claimed the lives of four men, including a police constable and two brothers, and left another injured in the hotbed community of Cassava Piece, in St Andrew between Monday night and yesterday morning.

The dead cop has been identified as Constable Lazano McFarlane of the Mobile Reserve. Police say their colleague was killed during a running gunbattle in the community after a daring early morning murder on Mannings Hill Road yesterday.

The other dead persons have been identified as John Taylor, Alton Burgess, 27, and his 29-year-old brother Damion. Two other persons, including another cop, were injured during the shootings.

The three civilians add to a growing list of persons who have been killed over the last couple of months in Cassava Piece, a depressed community on the doorsteps of the Constant Spring Police Station.

Police say bad *lo** has been brewing since last year's general elections and has escalated into urban warfare. A gang in a section of the community has been waging war against two other gangs, one based at nearby Glen Drive and the other based in the section of the community behind the Constant Spring Police Station and the Sandy Gully.

"The community is splintered. This thing started out of politics and blew up into a gang war. Shootings and murder are now commonplace around here," said a police officer who stood near the site where his colleague died.

About 8:30 Monday night, gunmen crept up on Alton Burgess and shot him dead as he walked through the area. Less than 12 hours later, Burgess' brother, Damion, and a gang of gunmen returned to avenge Alton's death and shot Taylor and another man as they stood near a stall on Mannings Hill Road.

Taylor died while the other man was being treated at hospital yesterday.

A contingent of police from the Mobile Reserve was close at hand and challenged the gang, some of whom escaped in the maze of zinc-lined dirt tracks in the impoverished community.

"They fired at us from all directions and fled in all directions," one cop said.

The elder Burgess was not so lucky, and led the police in a running gunbattle which ended with McFarlane and himself being cut down along a lane which runs alongside the Sandy Gully.

Police said a 9mm pistol was taken from his body.
A woman was among several persons taken into custody in the aftermath of the gunfight.

Police say Damion Burgess is originally from a garrison community in Spanish Town and was out on bail for a murder committed in that community.

As crime scene investigators collected evidence, several of McFarlane's fellow cops visited the scene with grim expressions.

McFarlane was on the beat for six hours at Central Village in St Catherine where another policeman was shot and injured while patrolling the area with a colleague.

"We are tired. We have been working since last night in Central Village. It is really a tragedy," one cop said sadly.

But as police rued the death of their colleague, some residents of the area claimed he was a victim of friendly fire.
"Not because a di gully side dis, the truth must come and is police kill police," one woman said.

But the police were not willing to confirm the residents' claim.
"When the ballistic tests are done, then we will know the truth," a senior police source said last night.

Police say they will be paying special attention to the area in an effort to stem any further violence in the community.