Beaten with an old, tattered suitcase by a mentally challenged man, an American female tourist is now nursing injuries after the encounter in downtown Montego Bay yesterday.

This came just hours after a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) shot and killed an unidentified man of unsound mind after he attacked a policeman and a bystander with a machete. Business-man Garfield Williams, who was a bystander, was also shot and killed in that mêlée.

According to a witness, who wished not to be named, the last incident occurred approximately 1:40 p.m. along the busy Harbour Street thoroughfare in the tourism capital.

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"This man who was obviously mad, just attacked the tourist with an old suitcase and began beating her in the head. I was so shocked because when the suitcase began breaking apart, he started to use the wheel of the suitcase to continue his beating," the stunned witness told The STAR.

She said when several by-standers saw what was taking place, they intervened and began hitting the attacker with anything they could find, but he managed to escape more severe injuries when he outran the irate citizens. Residents later assisted the tourist in seeking medical treatment.

But this is not the first time in recent weeks that tourists visiting the island have been at the centre of violent attacks. On May 21, six Canadian tourists were caught in a shooting incident while in traffic on Spanish Town road in Kingston.

A male occupant in the motor vehicle received injuries as a result of a shattered glass during the incident, but the other occupants were unharmed. According to the police, the six tourists were travelling between Montego Bay, St James, and Kingston when, upon reaching a section of Spanish Town Road, they heard three shots. It was later discovered that the right rear window was shattered and the front windscreen damaged. The group then went to the Kingston Public Hospital where they were treated and released.