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St Catherine's most wanted Dalon Davis, also known as 'Devil', and his cousin Tavani Benjamin, alias 'Benji', led a reign of terror, committing multiple murders in the Linstead and Bog Walk areas for quite some time, the police have disclosed.

On Saturday morning, after months of orchestrating elaborate schemes to evade the police with the help of accomplices, the notorious criminals were cut down in a shoot-out during a joint police-military operation.

Davis and Benjamin made the police's most wanted list after being implicated in several murders, including the recent July 14 killing of David Archer, alias 'Didi Frass' - a section leader of the St Catherine-based One Order Gang. Police say a fallout among the three former friends led to Archer's death.

In June, Devil, the more notorious of the cousins, went as far as to fake his own death to throw the lawmen off his scent. Assuming the identity of an unidentified man killed weeks ago in a police operation in western Jamaica, Davis planned and executed his own wake, printing buttons and posting the death announcement on social media as part of the ruse.

"This was a very dangerous criminal. For a man to go on social media and fake his death to mislead law enforcement, you know the type of person we were dealing with," Christopher Phillips, Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police for Area Five, told The STAR at the scene in West Prospect, Bog Walk, where the cousins were killed in a fierce gunfight with security forces early Saturday morning.

Police reports are that about 5:10 a.m., lawmen were conducting a targeted raid in the area in search of wanted men. Upon arrival, the police and soldiers were met with gunfire. They took evasive action and returned fire.

The gunmen attempted to escape in the community and were intercepted when they were shot. Three 9mm pistols were seized during the incident.

During the shoot-out, two officers were wounded; one remains hospitalised in serious but stable condition.

'WE CAN SLEEP IN PEACE NOW'

Residents of the community, wary of speaking on the record in fear of their lives, confirmed the fake death scheme while expressing relief at Davis' demise.

"We see them keep nine-night and print button and put on social media sey him dead, but we know sey nothing no go so, because we see him all the time since that," one resident told The STAR.

"All mi will say is, we glad the police do what they had to do. Thank God we can sleep in peace now, and we nuh have to pay out extortion money," added another cautiously.

Acting ACP Phillips is urging the public to cooperate with law enforcement in their ongoing efforts to capture fugitives.

Stressing that the security forces will maintain a strong presence in the areas where criminals operate, he said, "I want the public to know that we are razor-like focused on wanted persons in the space. We have situated some teams that will focus primarily on these fugitives.

"We have the area fugitive apprehension team and our special operations team across St Catherine North and South working to capture these wanted men."