KINGSTON, Jamaica — Shane “Gaza Tussan” Williams, a familiar name from one of the most sensational chapters in Jamaica’s dancehall and criminal-court history, was reportedly killed during an alleged confrontation with police in Portmore, St Catherine, on Saturday.
Williams had previously attracted the attention of law enforcement in St Catherine and was publicly listed by the St Catherine South police as a person of interest in 2023.
But his name is perhaps best remembered nationally for his connection to the celebrated murder trial involving dancehall superstar Vybz Kartel, whose given name is Adidja Palmer.
Williams was among the men charged in connection with the 2011 murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams, the case that ultimately sent Kartel and several co-accused to prison.
Unlike Kartel, however, Shane Williams walked free.
In March 2014, the jury found Williams not guilty while convicting Kartel, Shawn “Shawn Storm” Campbell, Kahira Jones and Andre St John.
Those convictions themselves would eventually be overturned. In 2024, the UK-based Privy Council quashed the convictions because of juror misconduct, and Jamaica’s Court of Appeal subsequently decided against ordering a retrial, resulting in Kartel and his remaining co-accused being released.
Williams’ reported death therefore brings renewed attention to a man whose name was once intertwined with a murder trial that gripped Jamaica and reverberated throughout dancehall.
Details surrounding Saturday’s reported shooting remain limited, including the precise circumstances of the alleged confrontation.
If confirmed by police, the killing would mark a violent end for a man who once stood in the dock beside one of dancehall’s biggest stars—and walked away a free man.
