Two men were shot and killed, two others were injured in St James JA
A 19-year-old is among two persons killed in separate incidents in St James on Friday.
Dead are Damion Smith, 19, a labourer from Flanker; and 22-year-old Kemar ‘Red Plate’ Hoffenden, a push cartman of Pitfour.
Two other men – a 22-year-old of Paradise, Norwood, and a 23-year-old of Farm Heights, both motorcycle deliverymen – were shot and injured in one of the incidents and are now hospitalized in serious condition.
Another pushcart vendor, who the police have only identified as ‘Hog Head’, is being sought in connection with one of the murders.
Reports are that, shortly after 10:00 pm on Friday, Smith and the two deliverymen were walking along Seaview Drive in Flanker when a group of armed men ambushed them. The gunmen shot all three before escaping on foot.
Residents in the community summoned the Coral Gardens police. The men were taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital, where Smith was pronounced dead and the other two admitted in serious condition.
Earlier in the day, the Barnett Street police reported that at about 4:40 pm, Hoffenden, who operated a pushcart at the Charles Gordon Market in Montego Bay, got involved in a dispute with ‘Hog Head’.
‘Hog Head’ reportedly used a knife to stab Hoffenden in his chest before fleeing the scene. The victim was rushed to the Cornwall Regional Hospital by vendors at the market, where he died while being treated.
“We have commenced investigations into both incidents and have identified a main suspect in the market incident, and the police are presently seeking him,” a senior police officer told reporters.
Since the start of the year, 127 persons have been murdered in the parish of St James, despite curfews being imposed in the hotspots of Granville and two Zones of Special Operations in Norwood and Mount Salem communities.
0 Comment