Police kill suspect linked to string of murders

A suspected gangster and contract killer, who the police have linked to a string of murders and other violent crimes across several parishes, was killed during an alleged confrontation with cops on the weekend.

Neco Dixon, 25, was shot several times after he reportedly pulled a firearm from his waistband and pointed it at cops who were pursuing him in the Eight Miles area of Bull Bay, St Andrew, on Saturday.

One firearm and several rounds of ammunition were reportedly seized.

The Independent Commission of Investigations, the oversight body for the security forces, has since launched a probe into the shooting incident.

The police team was acting on intelligence that Dixon was in the eastern St Andrew community, according to law-enforcement sources.

“He was a high-risk target in the division,” Assistant Commissioner of Police Michael Phipps, who is in charge of Area Four, told The Gleaner on Tuesday, using a police term to describe suspects linked to multiple crimes.

Dixon was the prime suspect in at least three murders committed in Kingston, St Andrew, and St Thomas between October 2020 and May this year, police investigators disclosed.

The first killing linked to Dixon occurred in Fourteen Miles, Bull Bay, on October 7, 2020, according to investigators. The other two killings occurred in St Thomas on August 18 last year and in the east Kingston community of Rockfort on May 19 this year.

“He was involved in the drug trade and murder for hire. He is affiliated with several gangs to include Corner One, Back Bush, and the Genocide gangs,” one investigator disclosed, noting that Dixon could have been involved in other killings.

Dixon first landed on the police radar in 2017, when he was arrested and charged with murder.

It is unclear if that case is still pending as up to press time, the Court Administration Division had not responded to questions submitted by The Gleaner on Tuesday.

Last month, the police arrested 19 alleged members of the Genocide Gang, including accused leader Tefari Green, also known as ‘Scoobs’ and ‘Scrappy’.

They have been charged with various crimes under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organisations) Act or the so-called anti-gang law.

It is alleged that the accused persons are linked to a criminal network responsible for several murders, shootings, and robberies across Kingston, St Andrew, St Catherine, St Thomas, and St James between 2021 and 2026.

Green was allegedly directing the gang’s activities while he was in prison on an unrelated charge.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com