Negril couple shot at home; two men killed in Whitehouse
Published:Wednesday | June 5, 2024 | 12:12 AMAdrian Frater/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
The criminality plaguing the resort town of Negril, Westmoreland, continued late Monday night when armed thugs shot and injured a man and his wife in their bedroom.
The couple are now nursing gunshots wounds at a medical facility. Information on the full extent of their injuries was not immediately available.
“I am extremely worried about the crime situation in Negril, and I am seriously thinking about pulling up stumps and finding another place to live,” a Negril businessman, who asked not to be identified, told The Gleaner yesterday.
The businessman’s reaction is not surprising as, according to psychologists, incidents of home invasion spark reactions such as feelings of mistrust, isolation and fear, depression, anxiety, panic attack, sleeplessness, as well as a lack of confidence and a feeling of vulnerability.
Negril was not the only Westmoreland township rocked by violence on Monday night as there was a double murder in Gordon district in Whitehouse, on the other side of the parish.
The men killed in that incident have been identified as 25-year-old Santino Brown and 40-year-old businessman Carlington Walker. Another man was shot but he survived his injury.
According to reports, Brown and Walker, who had gone to visit a friend whose wife had recently died, were standing along the roadway in proximity to the friend’s home when a grey Toyota Axio motorcar pulled up alongside them.
Two men reportedly alighted from the vehicle brandishing firearms and opened fire at the two men, who ran off in different directions. When the shooting subsided, it was discovered that both men had suffered head and chest wounds and succumbed to their injuries.
The injured man was among several persons trapped in a nearby shop, who could only look on as the drama unfolded before them. He was hit by a stray bullet but the wound he suffered was not considered serious.
The state of crime in Westmoreland is becoming increasingly worrisome as it is one of two parishes that have seen an increase in murders since the start of the year. Between January 1 and May 26, the parish recorded 43 murders, two more than the comparative period last year.