Thugs gun down elderly men in Parks Road double murder
Published:Wednesday | October 18, 2023 | 12:10 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
The Major Investigation Division (MID) has taken charge of the probe into the shooting of three men, two fatally in Parks Road, St Andrew, on National Heroes Day.
The two deceased are elderly men identified as 76-year-old farmer Walton ‘Balla’ Pusey and 61-year-old Sylvester ‘Devy’ Leslie.
Police theorise Pusey, who was reportedly before the court in a heated land dispute, was the target of the deadly attack.
A judgment in his court matter was expected to be made this week.
“From what I gather, it was leaning in his favour and so possibly he was taken out,” an investigator, who requested anonymity, told The Gleaner on Tuesday.
The police said they would examine all possible motives.
The Gleaner understands that four men pulled up at the location about 7 p.m. in a Honda Fit motorcar and entered the shop and bar where Pusey and others were gathered.
One of the gunmen reportedly told him that they came for him and requested that the others put away their phones.
Reports are that the men then fired several shots, hitting Pusey in his head and upper body.
He died on the spot.
Another man was shot in his left arm.
He remains hospitalised.
Investigators collected 32 spent casings from the scene on Monday night.
The gunmen escaped in the waiting car which was later abandoned for another car in St Catherine.
The police, who were hot on the gunmen’s trail, intercepted a grey Toyota Axio further along in St Catherine. The vehicle crashed and the occupants reportedly ran into nearby bushes and escaped.
The vehicle has since been impounded and is being held at a police station in the St Andrew North division.
For Garfield Leslie, the death of his father came with a stinging feeling he could hardly explain.
Minding his business on Tuesday morning, it was through the wailing of an aunt to news of his father’s death that he learnt that the tragedy had struck so ‘close to home’.
“He is also my friend, so when I heard, I felt so weak inside… . Right now I feel so grieved. He was a jovial person and love to give joke,” the younger Leslie said.
The elder Leslie was not found until Tuesday morning after a passerby stumbled on his body.
His son told The Gleaner he thought his father was home in the comfort of his bed.
“This morning I realised something was wrong. We live in two different house so I wouldn’t know if him come in or not. Is this morning I discover that he is down there with shot in his head,” he said.
The eldest of three children, he told The Gleaner his father was known to drink or hang out at the Cushnie Road location where he was killed.
“I heard the explosions and never know it was him… . To tell the truth, I hardly go out, is just work to home because of the high crime rate,” said the younger Leslie, who is a tailor.
Investigators believe the elder Leslie was shot during the gunfire on Monday night and ran and fell.
A second cordon and search of the area was conducted on Tuesday, resulting in the nearby Eric Malcolm Basic School being close early.
Parents, students and teachers were escorted by police personnel through the crime scene.