Four relatives hit in mass shooting
Published:Monday | April 3, 2023 | 1:15 AMOlivia Brown/Gleaner Writer
A Clarendon family is wallowing in grief after four relatives were among six men shot, two fatally, in Saturday night’s mass shooting in Mocho.
The six men, who are said to be construction workers, were shot as gunmen rained bullets on a crowd of gamblers at a community shop in Darlow district.
Twenty-four-year-old Jason Lewin and 37-year-old Ervin Wright, also known as ‘Joe’, both of Darlow district, died on the spot, while the other victims were admitted in serious condition, according to the police.
On Sunday, relatives said they had been facing emotional turmoil with two family members dead and another two injured. Their grief is further compounded by the fact that another relative – fruit vendor Keith McIntosh, also known as ‘Bready’ – was also shot dead in May Pen last month.
McIntosh is yet to be buried.
It is reported that about 10 p.m. on Saturday, the six men were among a group of people gambling at a shop when armed men pulled up in a white Toyota Probox motor car. The men alighted from the vehicle and opened gunfire at the crowd before boarding the car and making good their escape.
The police were summoned and the injured men were taken to hospital, where Lewin and Wright were confirmed dead. The other four victims were admitted.
On Sunday, the bloodstained roadway bore testament to the grim tragedy that unfolded hours earlier.
The incident is an unfortunate déjà vu for the north central Clarendon community as just last week, two of its residents – 28-year-old Romario Drummond and 26-year-old Romaine Austin – were killed in Green Island, Hanover, where they had been working.
The police are yet to determine whether both incidents are related.
Residents say they are on tenterhooks and remain mystified over the deadly attacks.
Speaking with The Gleaner on condition of anonymity, some residents described the slain and injured men who were shot on Saturday as hard-working citizens.
“A construction man dem. Hard-working man dem, so you know a nuh nobody weh yuh a go see on no wanted list or walk and do no [crime],” said one resident.
The residents bemoaned that the latest incident has disrupted the calm in their usually quiet community.
“Dah district yah a good district ... . Nice district. Wi loving [and] caring. Wi tek care a people an’ mek people happy. Anybody come, wi mek them comfortable,” one resident told The Gleaner, expressing disbelief over Saturday night’s deadly assault.
Similar sentiments were shared by Romaine Morris, councillor for the Mocho Division, who described the shooting as a gruesome act in “a relatively peaceful community”.
“The persons [in Darlow] are very supportive ... . Dem love each other, and to hear that last night, six people got shot, two fatally, and persons are in the hospital in critical condition, it’s really bad,” Morris told The Gleaner on Sunday. “You have to say, ‘Wow! This is not Darlow. Something is happening’.”
The councillor is urging anyone with information that could assist the investigation to contact the police.
“If you have any information and you don’t want to reach out to the police, reach out to me, a pastor, or a JP (justice of the peace), and give over the information because we need to get back Darlow to the place where it used to be because this is not like Mocho,” he added.
Between January 1 and March 31 this year, 26 people had been murdered in Clarendon. This is a 62.5 per cent increase when compared to 10 murders recorded over the corresponding period in 2022.