AN officer testified yesterday that a man shot and killed by police in Fox Hill in 2018 had wielded a cutlass at two officers before being shot.

Sergeant 2752 Jamal Hamilton gave evidence before Coroner Kara Turnquest Deveaux as the inquest continued into the police-involved shooting of 43-year-old Jermaine Desmond Minnis, which occurred around 1.40pm on November 15 2018.

Minnis was reportedly shot by Assistant Superintendent of Police Darrington Sands, the subject of the inquest, after allegedly charging at him with a cutlass in the Fox Hill area.

Sergeant Hamilton said that shortly before the incident, around 1.35pm, he received an anonymous call from a woman who reported that a man dressed in yellow was waving a cutlass at a fruit stand near the Fox Hill Police Station and attempting to chop passersby.

A short time later, Sergeant Sweeting informed him that the man had been shot and told him to contact dispatch.

Sergeant Hamilton said the officers told the man to drop the weapon, but he refused and continued swinging the cutlass. Both officers involved were in uniform, he added, and ASP Sands shot the assailant.

He said ASP Sands was injured during the incident, suffering a wound to his right shoulder.

Sergeant Hamilton described a cutlass as a deadly weapon capable of maiming or killing someone.

He said the deceased was known to police and had previously been reported for disorderly behaviour by several people, including social workers, pastors, and his mother.

He told the jury he was unaware whether Minnis had any mental illness.

An investigator previously testified that the deceased had been a psychiatric patient at Sandilands but had no active file there in 2018.

Angelo Whitfield marshalled the evidence, while K Melvin Munroe represented the officer.