Grandfather murdered, 8-y-o shot in the face - Bloody Wednesday night brings St James murder count to 109
Published:Friday | September 27, 2019 | 12:17 AMHopeton Bucknor/Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
two men were shot dead and a child injured in separate incidents as gunmen went on a rampage in St James on Wednesday night.
Those killed have been identified as 54-year-old Bertland Bennett, unemployed of Lethe district, and 34-year-old Terron Kentish, a painter of Hendon in Norwood.
Bennett’s eight-year-old granddaughter, who was shot in her face, is now in hospital.
Reports from the Anchovy police are that at about 8:30 p.m., Bennett was at home in Lethe with his common-law wife and five children. While standing in his yard, he saw two men armed with guns entering his yard and ran inside the house and locked the door.
The gunmen reportedly kicked the door in and opened fire on Bennett as the family looked on helplessly.
The child, who was in an adjoining house with her mother, was struck in the face by a bullet.
The police were summoned, and upon their arrival, the injured child was rushed off to hospital, where she was admitted.
It was discovered that Bennett had received 12 gunshot wounds to the upper body.
Roughly two hours later, Kentish, who was visiting a woman at her home in the Mango Walk section of Montego Bay, was shot dead when two men armed with handguns barged into the house and opened fire, hitting him multiple times. The woman, who ran from the house, escaped unhurt.
Kentish was pronounced dead at hospital.
St James, which is under a state of public emergency, has recorded 109 murders since the start of the year, four more than killed for the entire 2018.