Witness says 6 cops gave similar account of alleged shootout
Published:Friday | February 6, 2026 | 12:12 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
A police witness told the Home Circuit Court that he was informed by six policemen – now on trial for murder – that the three men killed along Acadia Drive, St Andrew, in January 2013 had engaged them in a shootout.
The witness, an investigator in the matter, testified that he was also handed two weapons recovered after the alleged gun battle.
Sergeant Simroy Mott, Corporal Donovan Fullerton, and constables Andrew Smith, Sheldon Richards, Orandy Rose and Richard Lynch are on trial for murder in relation to the January 12, 2013 fatal shooting of Matthew Lee, Mark Allen and Ucliffe Dyer along Acadia Drive, St Andrew.
The witness, a detective corporal who was a detective constable at the time and attached to the Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) at the Constant Spring Police Station, said all six men gave him the same account when he saw them at the station after the incident.
According to the witness, the men reported that a blue Mitsubishi Outlander was signalled to stop, after which the occupants exited the vehicle and opened fire on them.
“They took evasive action by returning fire, and three men received injuries, and one man ran down Evans Avenue and escaped,” he recalled being told.
He added that prior to this, Sergeant Mott and Corporal Fullerton, who were at the scene when he responded to a radio transmission shortly after 12 p.m., had told him they had been involved in a shootout with four men in the Mitsubishi Outlander, with one man escaping down Evans Avenue. The information was recorded in the station diary and later included in his statement.
RECOLLECTION OF WITNESS
The witness testified that he travelled to the area with two other officers in plainclothes and found the scene cordoned off. Other police personnel and officers from the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), including Warren Williams, were already present.
He observed a blue Mitsubishi Outlander near the intersection of Evans Avenue and Acadia Drive with three doors open, including the driver’s door. On inspecting the vehicle, he saw dark stains on the front passenger seat that appeared to be blood. He also saw spent 9mm shell casings on the roadway and in a nearby yard.
The witness said Sergeant Mott handed him a Mac-10 semi-automatic firearm with its serial number erased and a magazine with four 9mm rounds, as well as an Acrus 9mm pistol, serial number 25HP400872, with six live 9mm rounds. He was informed that after the shooting subsided, the firearms had fallen and were retrieved by officers.
He told the court that he later walked sections of Evans Avenue with officers in search of the fourth man and was shown a yard he was told one of the men had jumped into. He conducted only a general inspection, noting other officers had already entered the yard.
Forensic personnel later arrived to process the scene, photographing the vehicle and surrounding area, collecting spent casings, and taking blood samples. After processing, the witness said he was shown an envelope containing 23 spent 5.56mm casings and nine 9mm casings. He later returned to his office, packaged and labelled the two firearms, and handed them to a sergeant for delivery to the forensic laboratory.
The trial will continue today before Justice Sonia Bertram Linton.