IN JAMAICA (UPDATE): 3 y-o child kills his 28 y-o mom Rhea Ricketts in CLARENDON....Policeman whose gun involved in shooting death taking it rough - relatives say...

BY KIMMO MATTHEWS Observer staff reporter matthewsk@jamaicaobserver.com  Monday, April 13, 2015    

Agony

Relatives of the policeman whose gun was reportedly used by his three-year-old son to shoot the boy's mother to death, are giving him unlimited support as he bears the grief that rocked a Clarendon community on Saturday.

The bizarre incident shook up the Nairne Castle community of North Clarendon, when it emerged that the boy had taken his father's gun from under a pillow and shot his mother fatally while the law enforcer slept.

Now, one relative of the bereaved policeman told the Jamaica Observer that the family was standing by his side, as he had been going through enormous emotional pressure.

Rhea  Ricketts

"Since the incident, things have not been going well for him and as a result we have to be monitoring him to make sure that he is alright," the relative said.

The Frankfield Police said that about 2:45 pm, mother-of-two Rhea Ricketts, and her common-law-husband were at a house belonging to her mother when the policeman was awakened by a loud explosion.

(L) Another daughter consoles Delcia Ricketts, 60-year-old
 mother of the woman who was fatally shot in Clarendon.
(PHOTOS: JOSEPH WELLINGTON) (R) Sherilee Ricketts
fights hard to hold back the tears as she speaks
about her sister Rhea.

"He later discovered that Ricketts was shot," a news release from the Corporate Communications Unit of the Jamaica Constabulary Force later stated.

Police said the injured woman was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead.

No further details were given, apart from the fact that a three-year-old child was also present in the room at the time of the incident.

The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), which has launched its own investigation, stated that the report it received from the police is that Ricketts was allegedly shot and killed, under circumstances that appear to be accidental, by her three-year-old son with the service firearm of her partner who is a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). The policeman is attached to the Mobile Reserve. more