There was high drama in Denham Town, west Kingston yesterday, after a funeral came to an abrupt end, when police took away the body of a man from his family during the service.

The man, known as Anthony Stern, was reportedly killed by police in a shoot-out in East Kingston about three weeks ago. It is alleged that Stern, who was listed as wanted before he was killed, was a member of the Striker's Gang in the area.

A nephew of the deceased man told THE STAR what happened.

"Things started to go wrong when the police went to the funeral parlour to collect the body, the police go to the parlour and seh that it cannot leave the parlour without their permission and so we had to wait til they collect the body and take it to the church at 3:15."

He continued, "around 4 o'clock they came into the church and started to move the body saying that the service can't stay too long and said no one must walk with the body, they took the casket and carried it out by Denham Town Police Station and hide it up there."

He told THE STAR that for about two and half hours, there was a constant back and forth between members of the police and Stern's family, which resulted in tear gas being unleashed and some persons being assaulted with batons by the police.

The deceased's body was eventually taken to the May Pen Cemetery by the police.

Head of the Kingston Western police Senior Superintendent Terrence Bent, confirmed that the body was taken from the family.

"The family wanted to parade the body around the community and the police were not going to allow that, so they took the body from the family and took it straight to May Pen Cemetery for burial," he said.