Community in fear after pastor succumbs to gunshot wounds
Published:Wednesday | December 21, 2022 | 12:39 AM
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Residents of North West 10th Way in Three North, Greater Portmore, are tight-lipped following the brazen murder of a pastor from the community on Monday. One man said he did not hear the explosion but saw the getaway car which almost mowed down a...
Residents of North West 10th Way in Three North, Greater Portmore, are tight-lipped following the brazen murder of a pastor from the community on Monday.
One man said he did not hear the explosion but saw the getaway car which almost mowed down a few pedestrians while the gunmen made their escape.
When our news team revisited the community on Tuesday, the streets were empty and the few residents willing to talk had fear written across their faces.
“The car load with man with guns,” a resident said.
Acting commander of the St Catherine South Police Division, Superintendent Hopton Nicholson, told The Gleaner that no motive has been established for the shooting.
Nicholson also made an appeal for anyone with information to come forward and speak to the police.
Investigators are probing various angles of the execution-style killing.
“He was shot in his head and bled profusely,” an investigator with knowledge of the probe told The Gleaner.
Lewis is pastor of the Greater Portmore Tabernacle and Spanish Town Tabernacle.
His wife is a Jamaica Labour Party councillor-caretaker.
Lewis was attacked just after midday on Monday by a lone gunman who opened fire at him while he was driving from his house.
The incident occurred in the presence of other family members who were reportedly travelling with him.
As he came under gunfire, Lewis lost control of the motorcar he was driving, which veered off the roadway and on to a sidewalk, coming to a halt in a clump of trees metres away from his home.
A video that has since gone viral shows Lewis covered in blood on the ground while being assisted by persons to stanch blood flow from the wound.
Lewis was then placed in a motorcar and taken to the Spanish Town Hospital.
He was later transferred to a Corporate Area hospital where he died while undergoing treatment.
The police Community Safety and Security Branch visited the location and met with the family as well as church groups.
The pastor was active member of his alma mater year group at Camperdown High School.