Residents fear more violence following east Kingston murders
Published:Saturday | July 13, 2024 | 12:11 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
The east Kingston Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) is probing two murders which occurred in the police division within 48 hours, driving upwards the homicide numbers and heightening fears of a peaceful summer.
The latest incident took place in front of the Vauxhall High School entrance on Thursday where according to police reports, a businessman was gunned down while seated in his car along Windward Road, Kingston 2.
The deceased man has been identified as 47-year-old Damian Edwards of Malvern Avenue in Kingston.
Reports from the Elletson Road police are that about 6:40 p.m., a police team on patrol responded to hearing several explosions in the area.
On their arrival, they stumbled upon a white Nissan Tiida motor vehicle along the roadway with Edwards seated in the driver’s seat with multiple gunshot wounds.
He was assisted to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
When The Gleaner visited the area yesterday, residents expressed shock at the death and lamented the state of criminality in the area.
“Dem man deh a girls man, him nuh deal with gun…All now me can’t believe it. People hear him on his phone a talk to a girl and she a tell him where to meet her. Him all did a buy a food nearby and tell the shop operator to share the food him soon come back. He never did,” a resident said.
“You can’t even trust man or woman in these times. The summer just look bleaky and the year done never start off good already … right now nuff people a invest ina installing security cameras in homes and businesses.”
Detectives are also investigating the death of a man who was killed on Wellington Street, off Victoria Avenue.
When The Gleaner visited that section of the community, the bloodstain of the unidentified man was on the road surface with flies milling around.
Some residents told The Gleaner that the deceased man is unknown to them.
Illegal gun deal
A police source, who requested anonymity, told our news team that they have received information that the man came to the area to purchase an illegal firearm and was ambushed.
They believe a sum of cash was also taken from the deceased.
Both murder incidents are still under investigation.
Yesterday, when The Gleaner roved the space, a police service vehicle was strategically parked at a location where Windward Road meets Victoria Avenue.
Since the start of the year, and years prior, the east Kingston community of Dunkirk has been embroiled in gang flare-ups which often lead to murders and shootings.
As at July 6, murders and shootings in the division had increases of 13 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively.
The division recorded 34 murders, four more than the corresponding period in 2023.
There were 28 shooting incidents, seven more than the period under review in 2023.