Man suspected of killing mother, son three years apart
Published:Thursday | July 11, 2024 | 12:13 AM
The St Andrew South police have identified the most wanted man in the division, Romario ‘Kaka’ Grant, also known as ‘Irons’, as the prime suspect in the separate murders of a mother and her son, occurring three years apart.
In the most recent killing, 59-year-old Irene ‘Angela’ Laing was killed on Wednesday, May 26, along Nelson Road in the hotbed Maxfield Avenue community.
“Dem deal with the woman wicked, pure head shot. She dead pon the spot,” a resident told The Gleaner.
Laing had reportedly just returned home from a graduation ceremony when loud explosions were heard.
Incidentally, she was killed at the same location where her son Delano Messam was murdered on May 18, 2021.
The police named the elusive Grant, who is a regular feature on the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) Wanted Wednesday social media campaign, as the main suspect in his murder.
“The police came in close contact with him on December 1, 2023 and he managed to escape during a shootout,” a senior cop told The Gleaner.
Messam, 38, was reportedly gunned down in front of Laing and according to residents, she had vowed to campaign for justice.
Both murders took place during nightfall.
“No mother a go witness her son die like that and she nuh seek justice, but you see the place where we live, you have to protect yourself because protection from the police is not guaranteed,” the resident said.
“You a witness and the suspected killer still at large, you can’t live same place. Long run, short catch … . See it deh. Same place. Is like a double crime scene right at her yard. You have to find somewhere go. A Jamaica this. It sad still and people feel it. Pure tears [the other day], pure bawling,” the resident said.
Superintendent Damion Manderson, head of the St Andrew South Police Division, said Laing was killed by two men who alighted from a motor vehicle and opened gunfire at her.
“She was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead upon arrival,” he told The Gleaner, adding that the St Andrew South Criminal Investigations Branch is actively hunting 29-year-old Grant “in relation to this incident and for a previous murder in the Nelson Road area”.
The police are also warning Jamaicans that harbouring a fugitive is a serious offence.
According to the latest JCF crime statistics, the St Andrew South division has recorded a 20.3 per cent drop in murders and an 8.1 per cent drop in shootings year on year, up to July 6.
There are 13 fewer murders and five fewer shooting incidents in 2024.
The national murder toll as at July 6 stood at 602, a 14.5 per cent reduction year on year, or 102 fewer victims.
Shootings, however, were on par with 2023, as both periods recorded 548 incidents.