WESTERN BUREAU:

Yesterday morning's brutal murder of an off-duty Westmoreland cop in front of his son has plunged his family and the police force into shock and grief.

Special Corporal Anthony Simpson, 56, who was attached to the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF) in Westmoreland, was fatally shot by three thugs in front of a lumberyard at Station Road in Little London. His son, 25-year-old Christopher Simpson, who was with him at the time, was also shot and later admitted to hospital in stable condition.

The heinous killing brings cop murders for 2009 to seven.

"He was very disciplined and hard-working. We were in the same batch at training school and, even then, he showed a no-nonsense approach towards his duties to serve and protect," ISCF commander for Westmoreland, Jonathon Boyd, told The Gleaner yesterday.

"This is just not something any member of the police force would like to hear. I was in a state of shock because I know the type of person Simpson was and to hear of his death in such a tragic manner is just indescribable."

Boyd said Simpson, a 23-year veteran of the ISCF, was a family man, with a wife and two children, and a member of the Savanna-la-Mar Seventh-day Adventist Church.

According to the police, about 12:15 a.m., the elder Simpson and his son were sitting in his private motor car when they were approached by three men.

After a brief conversation, the men pulled firearms and robbed the policeman of his pistol. They then opened fire on the two before escaping. The policeman, who was on vacation from the ISCF and working as a private security officer at the time of the incident, died on the spot.

Minister of National Security Senator Dwight Nelson said Simpson's murder proved that "rampaging criminals are bent on pursuing their deadly campaign against the forces of law and order".

Nelson said this was substantiated by reports that the hoodlums who gunned down the policeman spoke to him before opening fire on him and his son.

"There was no indication that Special Corporal Simpson retaliated or provoked the action, yet these murderous criminals still felt the need to shoot not only the policeman but his son as well," Nelson said.

In his statement, Nelson stressed that no stone would be left unturned in bringing the perpetrators to book.

The national security minister also called on citizens who might have witnessed the act or have knowledge of the attack to step forward.

"The next victim could be you as these criminals have no mercy or a sense of the sanctity of lives," he said.

sheena.gayle@gleanerjm.com