Brothers are second double murder victims of 2022

JUST THREE days after the first double murder of the year was recorded in the parish, there was more tragedy in Westmoreland as two brothers were killed in the quiet community of Carawina Tuesday morning.

They have been identified as 43-year-old Dervin Jones and his younger sibling, 41-year-old Sheldon Jones, both of Carawina district in Petersfield.

Reports by the police are that shortly after midnight, the Joneses were sitting in their yard having a drink when they were ambushed and shot several times by armed men.

Family members said they heard the gunshots but did not know that they were fired in their yard until they discovered the victims lying in pools of blood about 5:30 a.m.

The police were summoned and the brothers taken to the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital where they were pronounced dead.

Relatives were still in disbelief on Tuesday as they stared at the spot where both men were sitting prior to the incident.

Nadine Jones-Abbot, sister of the deceased, said her siblings were honest, hard-working individuals and their murder has shocked the entire family and community.

“My mother passed away on the 13th of July, 2021 and we buried her on the 24th of September. My brother Dervin never got to come to the funeral because he was in Cayman and he had problems coming to Jamaica,” Jones-Abbot said.

She said Dervin flew in on December 24 to spend a couple of weeks. He was killed on his birthday.

“We planned to cook some hog head and have a nice time and drink few liquor and them stuff there. And this is what (happened), tragedy struck this morning,” said Jones-Abbot.

She added: “It’s very heartbreaking, very hard. The family is taking it very rough. Three years now him never come to Jamaica and him just come to Jamaica and meet his death. It’s very hard for the family, I don’t know how we’re going to cope.”

Jones-Abbot said that Carawina was reputed as a crime-free community.

She also related that the death of their mother five months ago took the family by storm. Four months after her burial, the family is again making funeral arrangements.

Further, Jones-Abbot said her brother had a large portion of money on his person when he was killed, but the gunmen did not even bother to take the cash or his valuables.

As a consequence, they have ruled out robbery as a motive for the killings.

The Westmoreland police say they have not yet got any leads into this latest double murder.

“We have not yet made any headway into this latest double killing, but it’s early times yet and we are still locked in a series of investigations and hope to get some leads by later this week,” one senior cop told The Gleaner.

The deaths of the two brothers have seen the parish of Westmoreland recording the first and second double murder of the year.

The first happened on the morning of New Year’s Day. Tajay Stewart, 22, and 29-year-old Damar Martin, both unemployed, of Frazer Land, in the community of Cornwall Mountain, were shot and killed by gunmen in the community.

Tuesday’s murders have taken the tally of persons killed in the parish to five in Westmoreland – four days since the start of 2022.

hopeton.bucknor@gleanerjm.com