Eight shot, two fatally, at party in Westmoreland
Published:Tuesday | February 8, 2022 | 12:10 AMHopeton Bucknor/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
AN EVENT to raise funding for a cancer patient’s medical bills was transformed into a scene of death, robbery and bewilderment, as two persons were killed and six left nursing gunshot wounds after an invasion by armed men in the small farming community of Spring Gardens, Westmoreland, on Sunday night.
The gunmen, residents said, also robbed patrons of money and other items of value, including jewellery.
Those killed have been identified as 31-year-old Marshall ‘Cheese Chips’ Gayle of Spring Gardens and his 23-year-old girlfriend, Sherece ‘Shyan’ Murray, of Little Bay in Sheffield, Westmoreland.
Reports by the police are that about 9 p.m. on Sunday, while the party was in session, a group of armed men walked on to the property and opened gunfire at the crowd, hitting eight persons.
It is believed the men had driven to the community, but parked the vehicle a short distance from the site of the party. From there, they made a quiet and unsuspecting approach to the venue on foot, then made their shooting onslaught.
The police were summoned and the victims rushed to the Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital, where Murray and Gayle were pronounced dead, and the others admitted in serious, but stable, condition.
When The Gleaner visited the crime scene, it was littered with signs of the chaos associated with fright and flight, with dozens of slippers as well as cups and other utensils scattered around.
Gayle’s brother, Delroy, told The Gleaner the family was still in shock and had not yet come to terms with his death.
“A mi a the chef and all of us as family and friends deh yah a bounce ‘round an a assist Marshall wid him thing, but him really did a keep it fi help wi likkle brother, Anthony, who is a cancer patient,” said Delroy.
“My brother well young, him a just 30-odd, and mi a 60-odd, so you must know that a whole heap of years mi deh yah suh a look out fi them,” Delroy said.
He said the fundraising event started as a bike show, then turned into a party.
“Things did a gwaan nice till di man them come shoot up the place. It was about six of them. Them shoot Marshall all over him body, and then shoot Shyan, and then them tek weh all the money what them did mek,” Gayle recounted. “Meanwhile some a them a rob, the other one them a shoot all over the place.”
Westmoreland Western Member of Parliament Moreland Wilson characterised the incident as a migration of crime.
“I have not spoken to the police as yet. I cannot speak on the circumstances, but I’m here to express my sympathies to the family,” he said.
“What happened here, I mentioned it two months ago when the ZOSO was called in Westmoreland, what I suspect is they call it the migration of crime. Once there is an intense police operation within a particular area, you will find that the criminal elements will migrate to other communities, and when Savanna-la-Mar was held under control by the police, they did an excellent job at controlling the crime in the capital, but you will find that these criminal elements will move to quiet communities such as this,” Wilson theorised.
He called on residents to tell the police what they know.
Senior officers at the scene declined comment.
However, one cop, who requested anonymity, said that as a crime-restriction measure, they want such events curtailed.
“The police is trying very hard to have promoters cease from hosting events of this nature because we have strong reason to believe that there is a particular group of men who are targeting these events in order to carry out brazen robberies,” the officer stated.