KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Police are investigating the deaths of four people, who were killed when unidentified gunmen shot up a bar on Monday night in Bethel Town, Westmoreland, the westernmost parish in Jamaica, located on the south side of the island. The authorities said that four others were injured in the incident and have identified those killed as 41-year-old tiler Damion Baker; Odane Scott, otherwise called ‘Moses’; Rocky Lawrence and an unidentified man, who is reported to be an accomplice of the gunmen. The police said that the incident occurred at around 10.20 pm (local time) when a vehicle with the gunmen inside drove up to the bar and fired upon the patrons. The police said on arrival, they found eight persons suffering from gunshot wounds. The injured persons were taken to hospital where the four men were confirmed dead on arrival while the others were admitted. The police have given no motive for the second mass killings in Jamaica this year. In August, gunmen killed eight people and injured nine others at a party in Cherry Tree Lane, Clarendon, south of here. For the period, January 1 to September 21, this year, Jamaica recorded 842 murders down from 1,013 for the same period last year.

(CNN) — Sean “Diddy” Combs may soon be facing new allegations from over 100 men and women who’ve obtained legal representation and plan to file civil suits against the embattled media mogul in the coming weeks, according to Houston-based attorney Tony Buzbee. Buzbee said during a press conference on Tuesday that his firm, The Buzbee Law Firm along with the AVA Law Group, have been retained by at least 120 individuals “to pursue cases in civil court” against Combs and who contacted them after “claiming to be victimised by” Combs and other individuals or entities. Some of the cases they intend to file, according to Buzbee, will centre on allegations of violent sexual assault or rape, sexual abuse, facilitating sex with a controlled substance, false imprisonment, compelling prostitution, sexual misconduct, dissemination of video recordings and sexual abuse of minors. The musician and businessman was indicted on federal charges, including sex trafficking, earlier this month. Combs has pleaded not guilty. Buzbee said that of the 120 people who’ve retained his firm, half of them are men and half are women and that 25 of these individuals were minors at the time of the alleged incidents, which they said occurred in Los Angeles, New York and Miami during parties and, at times, music industry-related auditions. “As Mr. Combs’ legal team has emphasised, he cannot address every meritless allegation in what has become a reckless media circus. That said, Mr. Combs emphatically and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors,” Erica Wolff, an attorney for Combs, told CNN in a statement on Tuesday. Wolff added that Combs “looks forward to proving his innocence and vindicating himself in court if and when claims are filed and served, where the truth will be established based on evidence, not speculation.” The firm said it plans to begin filing these cases within the next 30 days as they continue a vetting and collection of evidence process. More than 55% of the victims “reported this conduct to either authorities, that is the police, or to hospitals,” Buzbee said, of which his firm is actively working to collect the records of reports made to authorities. Buzbee also clarified that his firm is not filing a class action lawsuit, rather each case will be filed individually in various states. Combs, he said, will in some cases not be the only defendant cited on the civil suits, as Buzbee says other individuals and entities may also be named based on the claims and the evidence that they’ve collected. Since last November, Combs has been hit with 12 civil suits, 11 of which directly accuse him of sexual assault. Combs has denied many of the allegations against him and settled one claim, but has not yet responded to all of the lawsuits that remain active. He is currently incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, where he is awaiting trial on three criminal sex trafficking and racketeering charges after being indicted by a grand jury. Attorneys for Combs are appealing his detention, seeking his release from jail as he awaits trial. A source previously told CNN that the majority of accusers who filed civil lawsuits had met with federal investigators during their months-long investigation. In March, Combs’ residences in Los Angeles and Miami were searched by the Department of Homeland Security Investigations. After Combs’ arrest, authorities said the investigation remains active and ongoing. Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs at the Met Gala in 2017 in New York. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters/File via CNN Newsource)

By Lisa Respers France, CNN (CNN) — John Amos, the actor known for his role as the family patriarch on the hit sitcom “Good Times” and the adult Kunta Kinte in the famed original miniseries “Roots,” has died, according to his longtime publicist Belinda Foster. He was 84. Foster told CNN on the phone on Tuesday that Amos died in Los Angeles of natural causes on August 21. She also shared a statement from Amos’ son, Kelly Christopher Amos, via email. “It is with heartfelt sadness that I share with you that my father has transitioned,” the  statement read. “He was a man with the kindest heart and a heart of gold… and he was loved the world over. Many fans consider him their TV father. He lived a good life. His legacy will live on in his outstanding works in television and film as an actor.” Born and raised in East Orange, New Jersey, Amos found his first passion in sports after he fell in love with football and played at Colorado State University. While he graduated with a degree in social work, he scored tryouts with the Kansas City Chiefs, the Denver Broncos and the Canadian Football League’s British Columbia Lions. In a video shared by the Chiefs, Amos once said he was a “slightly better than average high school football player.” “All I ever wanted to do all my life was to play pro football,” Amos said in the clip. “I figured that was going to be the best way for me to escape the economic strata we seemed to be locked into.” Amos would later recall that Kansas City Chiefs coach Hank Stram told him while cutting the future actor from his brief time with the team, “You are not a football player, you are a young man who happens to be playing football.” Following stints as a social worker and copywriter in New York, Amos turned to acting, scoring the role of weatherman Gordon “Gordy” Howard on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” which would begin his ascent in Hollywood. Bit parts on other hit 1970s television shows including “Love American Style,” “Sanford and Son” and “The New Dick Van Dyke Show” would follow. But it was his role as James Evan Sr., the stern father on “Good Times,” which would make Amos a star. John Amos starred in the hit Norman Lear series “Good Times.” (Bud Yorkin/Norman Lear/Tandem USA/Shutterstock via CNN Newsource) In a 2020 interview, Amos discussed leaving the hit series after two years following “contention” with the white writers over how the Black family at the center of the show was being portrayed. “I felt like I knew more about what a Black family should be and how a Black father would act than our writers, none of whom were Black,” Amos said at the time. “Their idea of what a Black family should be and what a Black father would be was totally different from mine, and mine was steeped in reality.” Amos said the show’s creator, Norman Lear, eventually came around to his way of thinking years later. The pair reportedly reconciled and publicly hugged during the 2019 “Good Times” live TV reunion special. Race was once again at the forefront when Amos portrayed Toby, the adult version of the slave Kunte Kinte in the critically acclaimed 1977 miniseries “Roots,” which earned Amos an Emmy nomination. “I knew that it was a life-changing role for me, as an actor and just from a humanistic standpoint,” he told Time magazine in 2021. “It was the culmination of all of the misconceptions and stereotypical roles that I had lived and seen being offered to me. It was like a reward for having suffered those indignities.” The “Roots” role reunited him with actress Leslie Uggams, for whom he had written on her short-lived CBS variety series in the late 1960s. Amos appeared in other beloved roles over the years, including as the fast food restaurant owner Cleo McDowell in the hit 1988 Eddie Murphy comedy “Coming To America” and its 2021 sequel. Last year, Amos was embroiled in interpersonal family issues after allegations of elder abuse and speculation he was in ill health were made by family members. “To all of my fans, I want you to know that I am doing well,” Amos said at the time. “I am not in ICU nor was I ever fighting for my life.” The-CNN-Wire & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.