OCHO RIOS, ST. ANN -JA (SHOCKING) : Slain 31 y-o Detective Constable, Shane Francis did not get to live in his dream house. He was shot dead during an altercation with a licensed firearm holder at a party

BY RENAE DIXON Observer staff reporter dixonr@jamaicaobserver.com  Tuesday, April 19, 2016    

OCHO RIOS, St Ann — By all accounts, Detective Constable Shane Francis was an ambitious man.

“Shane loving, love life, upliftment. He always wanted better things. He loved education, always going back to school,” his aunt Fay Jackson told

FRANCIS... shot dead Sunday night

Jamaica Observer yesterday.

That drive to do well, Jackson and other family members said, was at the root of the 31-year-old cop’s resolve to build his dream house in Breadnut Hill, the community where he grew up.But that dream was shattered Sunday night when Francis was shot dead during an altercation with a licensed firearm holder at a party in White River, Ocho Rios.

“He was building his house; he wanted a dream home for him and his mother,” Jackson said, adding that the house was not near completion because he was taking his time to build it.

“I can’t believe the man a build him house and nuh get to move in deh,” one man, who said he knew Francis for years lamented.

Yesterday, the dead cop’s family members were still in shock at his death.

Francis was the last of three sons for his mother.

“She was his baby,” Jackson said, referring to the close relationship the mother shared with her son.

She said her nephew loved going to parties and enjoying himself, hence his presence at the White River party on Sunday night.

Jackson said news of Francis’s shooting came to the family after 11:00 pm through a call from someone who was at the party. The family rushed to the hospital where they were told “he did not make it”.

“When you hear something happen, you know it, but it is like a dream. Mi can’t see myself not seeing him again,” Jackson said as she recalled the horrific moment for the family.

While reports have suggested that Francis and the man implicated in the shooting had a previous altercation, his family said they do not know the man who is responsible for his death.

Francis, who has been a member of the police force for almost 10 years, and was assigned to the Divisional Intelligence Unit, lived in Tower Isle, St Mary.

The police force’s Area Two Chaplaincy Unit has offered counselling to the family. more