Residents of Retirement, in St James, wept openly yesterday morning as they angrily rubbished the police claim that four men who were shot and killed in an operation in the community had engaged them in a shootout.

Relatives of three of the deceased men identified them as 57-year-old tractor operator Bryan Fairclough Sr; his watchman son, 28-year-old Bryan Fairclough Jr; and 28-year-old Jahmar Ashman, who they said were all employed at a nearby quarry. The residents could not identify the fourth man.

According to the residents, they were alerted to the presence of the police shortly before 6 a.m. when they heard banging on the door of the house where the four men were. They said they later heard the men begging for their lives before gunshots rang out.