Tower Hill resicents demonstrate outside the Gleaner's North Street office against the police killing of a man in the community on Friday. - Junior Dowie

Angry residents of Tower Hill, in South St. Andrew, are demanding justice for the death of one of their residents who was killed by police on Friday afternoon.

The residents claim the dead man, Peter Dobson, 37, was allegedly executed by cops who use a pillow as a silencer while they shot him in the head.

Residents of the community travelled to The Gleaner Company offices on North Street with placards calling for justice and also to give their side of the story.

Police reports say about 2:10 p.m., a joint police military operation was carried out in Tower Hill. During the exercise, members of a police party went inside a house at Calladium Crescent and found an AK 47 rifle with four rounds of ammunition. Police claimed that while they were inside the house, a male householder (Dobson) reportedly disarmed one of the policemen and was shot by another policeman. The injured man was taken to the Kingston Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

However residents claim that Dobson was shot in cold blood. Rose-marie Dobson-Kitson, his sister, said she saw police line up some men including her brother who were playing football on the street and search them. She said some officers also went inside her brother's house. "Some of the officers come out and ask who own the yaad. Peter say a him and dem lead him to the yaad," she said.

She said she saw nothing more after that, but Richard Reid who was playing football and had just been searched by the officers said he and Dobson's brother peeped through the window and saw the officers place, Dobson on the floor and shoot him.

The residents claimed that several of them were then placed in the police jeep and taken to the Hunts Bay Police Station where they were held for several hours and then released in the afternoon.

They alleged that Dobson was killed for no reason and believe the police did not find any gun at the house. "All di gun weh dem say dem tek from him, dem caan show which gun," Reid said.

The Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI) has launched a probe into the incident. Meanwhile family members and citizens have vowed to seek justice for the shooting and have visited The Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights for them to investigate the matter.