Police yesterday identified a woman who was found at North Parade in downtown Kingston on Saturday as a member of the Island Special Constabulary Force and one of four persons murdered by gunmen in the Corporate Area over the weekend.

They named the policewoman as 41-year-old Cynthia Patterson, who was stationed at Harman Barracks.
The other murdered persons are bus driver Everton Salky, of Connolly Avenue in Kingston; and 63-year-old Veronica Ellis and her grandson, Sheldon Williams, 15, both of Keino Pathway in Payne Land in Kingston.

The police say Patterson was found with gunshot wounds after cops patrolling the area heard explosions and went to investigate shortly after 5:00 in the morning. She was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Yesterday, as news of the fallen officer surfaced, several of her colleagues questioned the circumstances under which she was cut down.

According to an officer at the Constabulary Communication Network, the incident has raised some eyebrows among the police, and only a detailed investigation could answer the string of questions that follow her demise.

"It is really an interesting matter, though, because this happened so early in the morning and the location where the incident occurred is another thing. It leaves us to wonder what she was doing in downtown at that time of the morning," the officer said.

The officer investigating Patterson's murder was said not to be at work yesterday when the Observer tried to get a comment on the killing.

Patterson, who was assigned to the Supreme Court, was clad in a white sleeveless blouse, blue jeans skirt and a pair of red slippers when she was shot. She had no form of identification on her at the time of the incident.
Her death brings to three the number of cops murdered since the start of the year.