Three men were shot dead and an eight year-old girl shot in the lungs Monday night by gunmen who went on a shooting spree in Eight Miles, Bull Bay, St Andrew.
By Karyl WalkerThe police said three gunmen, all dressed in masks, went into the community and shot dead Craig Robinson, 25, Marvin Henderson, 21, and Marshall Nelson, 30, all at different locations at Pleasant View Lane in the rural St Andrew community.
According to the police, the gunmen first went to Robinson's house where they kicked off a door and shot him and his niece as they hid under a bed. The gunmen, the police said, searched the house before lifting a mattress off a bed and then sprayed bullets at Robinson and the child, who were cuddled together. Robinson died on the spot while the girl was taken to hospital where she was admitted in serious condition.
The police said the armed men then shot Henderson a few metres away after they saw him standing on the roadway among a group of persons talking.
Not satisfied with two lives, the gunmen then went to Nelson's house and shot him dead.
According to Nelson's spouse, Nelson was lying on a sponge watching television when the gunmen kicked off the door to their house and shot him seven times in the presence of his daughter.
Robinson's mother, Hyacinth Campbell, was yesterday in a state of shock as she cried uncontrollably. "Him was like a daughter to me. I was sick and him take off my panty and wash it for me," Campbell, dressed in a blood-stained dress, told the Observer.
Henderson mother, Khama Marrett, said her son had just received correspondence from the Jamaica Constabulary Force, advising him that his application for enlistment in the police force was successful.
"I can't calm down. I was in the bathroom when I heard the shots and ran out and could not believe it was Marvin," said Marrett as tears streamed down her cheeks.
The shooting death of the three comes three weeks after the double murder of 20 year-old Marlon Pommels and Damaine Walters, 24, also called 'Zooey', on August 5.
Walters was wanted by the police, who theorise that he was slain in reprisal for the May 27 murder of Omar Pryce, also of Pleasant View Lane.
Since May of this year seven people have been killed in Pleasant View Lane, a police spokesman said yesterday.
Yesterday, member of parliament for the East Rural St Andrew Joseph Hibbert, and councillor for the Eight Miles Division, Sylvester Brown, visited the area and comforted grieving family members of the slain persons.
Hibbert urged residents to cooperate with the police in order to stem the wave of killings in the area.
"The people who know should bring the information to the police so they can continue their investigations," Hibbert said. "It is the fear of giving information that is encouraging the criminals to continue with their life of crime," added the MP.
