Cops probe extortion link in Hanover bloodbath
Published:Friday | March 18, 2022 | 12:12 AMHopeton Bucknor/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Sleuths investigating a mass shooting that claimed three lives and left four persons injured in Santoy, Hanover, on Wednesday night are probing allegations that the attack could have been linked to an extortion racket in the area.
Reports are that shortly after 8 p.m., 55-year-old Michael Smith, a construction worker of Logwood; 37-year-old Mark Austin, a construction worker of Orange Bay; and 43-year-old Omar Mahabee, a businessman of Orange Bay Road in Logwood, Hanover, were in the process of installing surveillance cameras at the D & K Mini Mart in the vicinity of the Santoy Square when four men entered the establishment, posing as customers.
The men brandished handguns and opened fire at the workmen installing the cameras and other persons sitting at the entrance to the supermarket, killing the three men and injuring four others.
Some of the victims were reportedly chased to the rear of the supermarket by two of the gunmen during the onslaught.
Since the shooting, there have been whispers in the community that an extortion ring had been operating in the community and that the establishment may have been targeted by those crooks.
COMMUNITY VISIT
Yesterday, Assistant Commissioner of Police Clifford Chambers, Area One commander; Sharon Beeput, commanding officer in charge of the Hanover Police Division; and several other high-ranking cops visited the community and met with close relatives of the deceased and hospitalised victims.
Chambers told The Gleaner that the police are confident that they will make a breakthrough in short order.
“ ... The police are looking at some strong leads, and while we can’t say much at this stage, somehow we are confident that we will get to the bottom of this and hold those who are responsible and put them before the court,” he said, adding that the police were pursuing a number of suspects.
Chambers said that the police could not definitively say whether the deadly attack was linked to the installation of the cameras.
One of Wednesday night’s victims, Omar Mahabee, is said to be the uncle and brother-in-law of two children and a woman who were among seven persons murdered in the neighbouring community of March Town in late 2015.
Beeput and a cadre of officers from the Hanover Police Division also visited the burial site of six of those victims in Green Island yesterday and also met with some relatives of those killed in 2015.
Yesterday, several residents of Santoy expressed shock at the mass shooting, expressing fears that it could be the start of a bloody period in their community.
“This is gonna be more dangerous, and what would have happen if young kids or elders was here at the supermarket?” one man asked.
“This ting nuh right; this thing need fi put inna real, proper hand ... . It can’t work, man. I’m calling for peace,” the elder community member stated.
Seven persons have been killed in Hanover since the start of the year.