Deportee killed in confrontation with cops

A man who reportedly shot another man and the man’s dog was shot dead by police in a reported confrontation on Tuesday.

The deceased has been identified as 63-year-old Paul Andrew Thompson, otherwise called ‘Pablo’, a businessman of a Kingston 6 address. Thompson was previously deported from the US following convictions for drug and firearm-related offences.

Reports are that at 3:40 p.m., Thompson was involved in a dispute with a 76-year-old businessman at Danny Marina in Harbour View, where both men operated from a shared boatyard. During the dispute, Thompson allegedly pulled a firearm and shot the man twice, hitting him in the chest and right hand. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was admitted in serious condition.

The police were immediately alerted and responded to the location. While officers were conducting checks of the premises, Thompson reportedly opened fire on them from inside a container. The officers returned fire, hitting him. A Springfield Hellcat 9mm pistol, containing two live rounds, was recovered at the scene. Thompson was taken to the Kingston Public Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Investigators also discovered a Rottweiler dog with what appeared to be gunshot wounds at the premises. The injured businessman allegedly told witnesses that Thompson had shot his dog during the incident. The Independent Commission of Investigations is probing the incident.

Police records indicate that Thompson had an extensive criminal history in the US, including convictions for drug and firearm-related offences. In 1991, he was arrested at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York for trafficking marijuana. He was fined US$500, had his permanent resident status revoked and was deported to Jamaica. In December 1997, Thompson was arrested and charged with murder in the US. He was subsequently acquitted of that charge but pleaded guilty to a weapons possession offence. He was released from prison in September 2002. He also faced drug-trafficking charges in Arizona relating to the transportation of marijuana, for which he was subsequently sentenced.

In Jamaica, Thompson previously held a firearm user’s licence. However, it was revoked following his criminal conviction overseas, and he surrendered his licensed firearm to the St Catherine South Police in December 2006. Records further indicate that Thompson was convicted in the US for an offence involving the possession of an American passport under an assumed identity. He was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment and deported again to Jamaica in October 2006.