August Town family under siege in back-to-back attacks

Brazen gunmen in August Town seem hell-bent on seeing the back of a family, executing attacks twice in as many days.

When a triple shooting on Sunday, which involved an elderly man and two teens, did not force the family to flee, heavily armed gunmen went back to the same location on Monday, spraying homes in the yard in their reign of terror.

The second time around, no one was injured.

On Tuesday afternoon, Bryce Hill Lane, morbidly called ‘Duppy Lane’, was haunted by ghostly silence as residents stayed indoors.

It was a reluctant shopkeeper who pointed our news team to the home that has been the subject of the attacks.

An occupant of the household who spoke with The Gleaner was a portrait of fear.

“Mi not doing good, but me have life,” said the resident, who requested anonymity for fear of further reprisals.

DIFFICULT FOR CHILDREN

The resident was more concerned for more than five children who live at the home, saying they were scared.

“It hard pon di baby dem ... . When the baby hear the explosions dem, dem nuh scream, but is like dem jump up inna the bed, dem a shake,” the householder said.

Reports from the police are that about 11:35 a.m. on Sunday, a 55-year-old man, and two others aged 16 and 17, all of the Kingston 7 address were shot and injured by a lone gunman.

Monday night’s shooting occurred shortly after 10 o’clock.

A resident who has lived in the community all her life said she wants to move out but can’t afford rent elsewhere.

August Town, a mainly low-income neighbourhood, has been one of two epicentres of violence in the constituency of St Andrew Eastern.

Bloodletting and tension are touchstone.

“This a long time thing, long, long time. ... Is like dem nuh want see we then, ‘cause every likkle thing happen, it talk say, ‘Dem haffi go lif’ up, dem haffi go lif’ up’. ... Everything happen, a yah suh feel it,” a relative of the family told The Gleaner.

The family at the ill-fated home has done home improvement, like raising the boundary walls and improvising using metal gates.

“If yuh notice, me haffi add on, because every likkle thing, dem shoot up over my house,” a woman said.

The resident lost a cousin to violence in the area 10 years ago and the community has been rocked by sporadic attacks. She showed our news team bullet holes in windows, doors, and on walls.

The family is calling for increased police patrols in the wake of a rash of violence that has swept August Town in weeks, including the controversial shooting death of a disabled woman, 43-year-old Susan Bogle. Residents have alleged that she was killed by a soldier involved in a gun battle.