Woman tried to stop partner from leaving home before confrontation with cops left him, two others dead

The spouse of one of the three men killed during an alleged confrontation with police in Comfort district, Clarendon, on Friday is challenging the official account of the deadly encounter.

The deceased have been identified as 26-year-old Michael Pinnock, also known as ‘Size Ten’, of Swansea in Clarendon; 35-year-old Dean Williams, also known as ‘Sam’ and ‘Crazy Block’, a mechanic of York Town and Swansea in the parish; and 25-year-old Rushane Lynch, also known as ‘Juvenile’ and ‘Courtney’, of Raymonds in Hayes, Clarendon, and Old Harbour Bay in St Catherine.

Police reports are that a team of lawmen was conducting an operation in the area when they signalled a grey Honda Fit with four men aboard to stop.

According to the police, the driver complied, but exited the vehicle armed with a weapon and confronted the police.

“The driver complied but came out pointing a weapon at the team, and in the same breath it is reported that the other occupants began firing at the police party,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Area 3, Christopher Phillips.

Phillips said that, when the shooting subsided, three of the occupants were found suffering from gunshot wounds. The driver, however, reportedly escaped on foot.

Dean 'Sam' Williams' spouse, Britney Blake, whose brother was also shot and injured during the incident, is disputing the police’s version of events. Her brother, reportedly the driver of the vehicle in which the four men were travelling, remained hospitalised yesterday.

Speaking with The Gleaner at their home in the parish, Blake struggled to maintain composure as she recounted an unsettling premonition she felt when she said Williams decided to leave the house sometime after 7 p.m. on Friday to collect money in another community.

Between tears and laboured breaths, she said she repeatedly urged him to remain at home.

“He said he was going to the barber to trim, and mi say, ‘At this hour? Mek it stay'. Then him turn to me and say him a go collect a money. Mi say, ‘Sam, yuh affi go?’ Him sey, 'Yes'."

Blake said she watched as Williams, her brother, and their two friends entered the vehicle to leave the yard. Even then, she said, she called out to him once more, pressing him about the decision to venture out on the road.

“I call him and him come to me, and mi say, ‘Sam, yuh affi go?’ And him say, ‘Yes, Brit. A the money mi a go collect and come back'.”

According to Blake, Williams later contacted her and reported their grey Honda Fit vehicle had been intercepted by the police. She said he told her that officers ordered them to lie face down, and conducted a search before allowing them to continue on their way.

A short time later, he called again to say they were heading back home.

That was the final conversation they would have.

“I get a voice note say shooting a gwaan pon Comfort road, and mi a sey, 'But a there so Sam sey him a drive',” Blake recalled.

A growing sense of dread overtook her.

She said she attempted to call Williams, her brother, and the other occupants of the vehicle, but none of the calls were answered.

Not long after, a phone call confirmed what she had begun to fear — her spouse, her brother, and their two friends had all been shot.

Blake said her injured brother later recounted that while they were travelling home, the vehicle suddenly came under heavy gunfire from the police.

According to the account he gave her, the other three men were fatally shot inside the vehicle. He reportedly attempted to shield himself beneath the dashboard as the gunfire erupted.

He further alleged that when the shooting subsided and he attempted to flee, he was shot in the arm.

Blake claimed that members of her family had long been subjected to scrutiny from the police. She claimed officers had visited their home on seven occasions, reportedly in search of illegal firearms, but each time their search bore no fruit.

She insisted that her spouse and the other men were innocent.

Hartley Blake, father of the injured man, is now calling for those responsible to be held accountable.

“We want justice. We want those who guilty to face justice,” he said.

olivia.brown@gleanerjm.com