Shell-shocked Hanna Town residents want end to turf war
Published:Monday | May 8, 2017 | 12:00 AMCorey Robinson
Residents of Hannah Town in west Kingston remained shell-shocked and fretful yesterday as three of seven persons reportedly shot in a drive-by attack last Friday evening remained hospitalised in serious condition.
The police Corporate Communications Unit (CCU) reported that Dalton Daley, 45, was shot and killed and six others hospitalised when gunmen travelling in a Nissan Tiida opened fire at a party in the area. It occurred at Rose Lane and Hannah Street about 10 p.m.
But residents claimed that at least two other persons were injured in the onslaught that left the battle-hardened area resembling a ghost town, except for children walking home from school and a few brave residents.
"Is just because police out here why I sit down out here. The whole place a war and everybody 'fraid," fumed an elderly woman, metres from the bloodied spot where Daley's body curled Friday night. "I don't know what happen to them bwoy here."
SUPERSTAR AND UPSETTER GANGS
The woman looked on at a police van with three lawmen aboard. They acted as one of the buffers between Rose Lane and Oxford Street, where the police said two warring factions - the Superstar and Upsetter gangs - have been at loggerheads.
The incident occurred metres from the burned-out Hannah Town Police Station, which has been left abandoned since the 2010 west Kingston incursion.
Neither the police nor the residents could say for sure what led to Friday's incident. The residents speculated, however, that it could have been linked to the recent gun attack on Leighton 'Livity' Coke, brother of incarcerated gang lord Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.
"We cannot speak of any leads as yet, but we understand that it could be stemming from the whole turf rivalry between the two sides. We are talking about two groups from roads that run parallel with each other," said Superintendent Howard Chambers, head of the Kingston West Police Division. "We are still investigating and we have police in the area."
Noel Wilson, an elderly resident, bemoaned the many bullet holes that pierced the bonnet of his motor car that was still parked in the same spot as the ill-fated evening.
"I'm very upset because is me have to now find money and fix it. Is three days now since the incident. I have to take it to the mechanic this afternoon. I have to call all my sons in foreign for them to send money to fix it," he said, scowling.