Residents resort to roadblocks to stop drive-by attacks

Tit-for-tat murders and shootings between warring factions in the Angola and Top Jungle sections of Arnett Gardens, St Andrew, this week have left some residents fearful and resorting to mounting blockades along the roadways to prevent more drive-by attacks.

In the first fatal shooting on Tuesday, shortly after noon in the Top Jungle area, gunmen travelling in a motor car chased and shot 23-year-old Tyrese Grant.

He died in hospital while another man remains hospitalised in critical condition.

His mother, Delva Gordon, said she saw a masked man chasing someone, but did not realise that it was her son who was attempting to flee.

“He was just passing go buy his juice and cigarette and coming back. The car just come and man start shoot … . Mi a come through the gate and see the man with gun and a hoodie over him face. If I did come through the gate, I would get shot, too,” Gordon said.

In what investigators believe was a reprisal on Wednesday, gunmen struck in Paradise Court in Arnett Gardens, killing Timothy Shedden.

Reports are that Shedden was sitting at the front of the community when men on motorbikes pulled up and opened fire at him.

He was shot multiple times and rushed to hospital, where his death was confirmed.

Roland Grant, father of Tyrese, told The Gleaner that the police visited his home on Friday and verbally abused him and residents who were planning a three-day candlelight vigil for his son.

“The man use the gun a push mi fi go in a the house, and mi say, ‘Mi son just dead Tuesday and today a Friday ya come kill me?’ Mi nuh go further from mi house to mi car. If my son followed mi, him would be alive today. Him run pass him yard like a bullet. A dung the end of the road him go drop,” Grant said.

Tyrese’s mother told The Gleaner that her son suffered from a mental illness, for which he was being treated.

In fact, she said, he had just taken his medication before he was killed.

She is fearful that more lives could be under threat.

“The people dem ‘fraid to and a block the road because they feel man a come in a car,” Gordon said.

Residents say they want the lawmen to increase their presence in the area.

“We just a ask the police dem fi be on our side. ... We can stay a we yard and light a candle. We nuh want the gathering either ‘cause we know wah gwan,” a resident said.

The family said the police told them that no gathering will be allowed.

On Friday, cops were seen patrolling the area, at times driving on the sidewalks to manoeuvre the roadblocks in Top Jungle.

Some motorists turned around when they came upon the blockades, seemingly disgruntled by the inconvenience.

The Gleaner was unable to reach Michael Phipps, commander for the Kingston Western Police Division, whose phone rang without an answer yesterday.

A senior officer, whose name is being withheld as that officer was not authorised to speak on the matter, told The Gleaner that police intelligence suggests that warring factions are behind the recent killings.

“The police know some of these players and aware they bring in persons from other areas to do the dirty work. The police have increased their presence in the space to ease the fears and concerns of law-abiding residents,” the cop said.

The police are urging residents to desist from blocking the roadway.

The Kingston Western Police Division is seeing a near 43 per cent year-on-year decline in murders.

Up to September 7, fifty persons were killed compared to 87 over the corresponding period in 2021.

Shootings have also fallen by 44 per cent.

A total of 1,055 people have been murdered nationally, a seven per cent increase year-on-year.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com