Student killedin Hanover gun attack

WESTERN BUREAU:

A 17-year-old student of Rhodes Hall High School in Hanover was shot dead and his older brother seriously injured when armed men kicked in the door to their two-room board house and opened fire in a predawn attack on Tuesday.

The dead student has been identified as Zylon Curtis, otherwise called ‘Hill Top Boss’, of Campbell’s Hill in Lances Bay, also in Hanover.

His 24-year-old brother, who was not identified by the police, suffered multiple gunshot wounds and has been admitted to hospital in critical condition.

Reports from the Lucea police indicate that about 1:30 a.m., Curtis and his elder brother were asleep in bed when gunmen invaded their home and sprayed them with bullets. Their mother, who was asleep in an adjoining room in the house, was not hurt.

Curtis was pronounced dead at the Noel Holmes Hospital in Lucea.

Residents of Campbell’s Hill were still in shock on Tuesday afternoon.

Relatives of the slain student said some family members, including Curtis’ grandmother who fainted on hearing the news of the boy’s death, were badly shaken by the tragedy.

Marvin Grant, Curtis’ uncle, told The Gleaner that the brothers were not antagonists.

“These little young boys have dem little bike, an dem ride up an dung, but as to be a known troublemaker, no! So we did not expect this to happen to him,” said Grant.

A senior police officer who spoke to The Gleaner on condition of anonymity said investigators are yet to establish a motive for the killing.

Up to February 23, Hanover recorded eight murders.

Three murders were committed for the corresponding period in 2020.