Gunmen murder 70-y-o in Patrick City
Published:Thursday | October 8, 2020 | 12:10 AMChristopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer
A Patrick City shopkeeper said on Wednesday that she was still traumatised by the gun murder of a 70-year-old man in the western St Andrew community the night before.
The killing of Maurice Bailey, otherwise called ‘Beenie’ or ‘Likkle B’, has rocked the mainly residential area that is nursing lingering fears after a double murder last Friday.
Though relieved to be still alive, the shopkeeper, who has requested anonymity for fear of the criminals, vividly remembers the 7:30 p.m. attack that has left householders bewildered and scared.
The shopkeeper had just stepped away from the counter to get an item for a customer when all hell broke loose.
Bailey was seated on a plastic crate near the shop entrance.
“Me hear di gunshot (explosions) dem and me see di two man (patrons) like dem a dodge bullet, and one of them fly the grille and the three we buck up,” said the shopkeeper.
“One o’ the man dem, when him done, him call smaddy and seh, ‘Mi dead! Mi dead!’”
The gunmen did not enter the building but fired more rounds before escaping.
As the explosions rang out, a member of the household screamed and fled outside.
It was only when the drama had ended that they discovered that Bailey had been hit multiple times as the gunmen sprayed the building, a wall, appliance, window, and other fixtures bearing evidence of the hail of bullets.
“Dem nuh try fi rob me because dem come deh so and a fire whole heap a shot. Is not like dem come rob me,” the shopkeeper said, trying to make sense of the gun attack.
Two householders said on Wednesday that they were psychologically affected by the incident, with the proprietor sharing that in the almost 60 years of operating the family-run business, they had never experienced anything as traumatic.
She recounted that only recently, the area had begun to experience a spike in gun violence, which claimed the lives of two men, with another man killed the week before.
Bailey, a retiree, was pronounced dead at the Kingston Public Hospital.
Crime-scene investigators collected 16 spent shells, one live round, and two bullet fragments at the death site.
Patrick City is located in the tough police division of St Andrew South, which has had an 11 per cent dip in murders year-on-year as at October 4. Killings fell by 13 from 121 to 108.
Shootings have also decreased by 8.5 per cent from 129 to 118 over the same period.
Overall, murders in Jamaica have slipped by 1.7 per cent from 994 to 977 year-on-year as at October 4.