DARK AND bitter déjà vu is how stakeholders have described Wednesday’s quadruple murder in Summerfield, Clarendon.
They have likened the brutal slaying to that of the June 2022 massacre in the neighbouring Cocoa Piece community, in which a mother and her four children were viciously killed.
It is the third mass killing in the parish in three consecutive years, following the June 2022 Cocoa Piece quintuple murde and the September 2021 Havannah Heights quadruple murder, which left a young boy orphaned.
The latest tragedy unfolded sometime after 1 a.m. on Wednesday when the horrors of gunshots bellowed at the Genesis Lounge and Grill, snuffing the life out of four men who were patrons at the complex.
The deceased have been identified as Varrel ‘Harry’ Manning; his cousin, Theo Manning; 44-year-old shop operator Kish Brown of Line Road in Summerfield; and a man known only as ‘Rasta’ or ‘Tumpa.’
The Gleaner understands that ‘Tumpa’ had just recently regained mobility in his legs as a stroke had rendered him crippled.
Reports are that about 1:15 a.m., residents reportedly heard explosions and summoned the police.
On arrival of the lawmen, two of the men were seen lying outside a cook shop with gunshot wound while two others with gunshot wounds were found inside the shop.
All four were taken to hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
A motive has not yet been established for the killings.
A resident who spoke with The Gleaner under condition of anonymity said she was jolted by the news and had the ‘’same burning feeling” when she heard of the murder of Kemesha Wright and her four children in Cocoa Piece.
“Dat same burning feeling weh inside a yuh - it hurts! it hurts! - and these things need to stop. Yuh can’t wake up and a walk ‘round with gun an’ just a kill people suh. Mi cyaa find a reason fi sey why you would a waa fi just kill people,” she said.
The resident also lamented that tragedy had disrupted the peace of the community.
“A top shotta dem. Dem jus’ come and spray di place [with bullets],’’ said a man who was among residents scouting the bloody scene.
Shattered liquor bottles, a bullet-riddled garbage bin and walls, and blood stains bore testament to the brutal unfolding that left the rural community stunned.
People’s National Party (PNP) councillor/candidate for the Chapelton division in Clarendon North Central, Fraince Douglas, a cousin of one of the deceased, was brought to tears when he spoke of the tragedy.
Douglas said he passed the men at the spot about 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday night but could not fathom that that was the last time seeing them alive.
“It is really a dark day in Chapelton because it is one after the other (two mass killings). It is really sad. These are guys I [grew up with.] I feel it. I know them by name, everything. Yesterday mi and them out in the streets. I am really saddened,’’ Douglas told The Gleaner.
Robert Nesta Morgan, member of Parliament for Clarendon North Central, decried the incident, adding that it was a refection of how heartless and brazen criminals had become.
“Losing four constituents in one incident is very traumatic for the community. The police will tell you, we don’t have these sorts of things happening on a regular basis, but we live in society where people have become very heartless, and brazen, so we just have to join together as a community and support each other in this time of grief,” said Morgan.
Meanwhile, acting assistant commissioner of police in charge of Area 3, Glenford Miller, has urged venue owners and operators to desist from operating beyond regulated hours.
“Once it is the cut-off time for your establishment to be closed, close your establishment, abide by the law. [And] to the persons who keep parties, when it is the cut-off time for the parties, shut down the parties,” charged Miller.
The police are asking anyone with information to make an anonymous report to Crime Stop at 311, or NIB Tip line at 811, or call the nearest police station.
Up to September 30, Clarendon had seen an 18.6 per cent increase in murders, having recorded 83 homicides compared to 70 killings over the 2022 corresponding period.