Guns bark in MoBay

WESTERN BUREAU:

IN WHAT was a weekend of gun violence, at least two persons were shot and killed and one other injured in separate incidents in the Rose Heights and Norwood areas of Montego Bay.

A 20-year-old electrical technician Henry Stone, was shot and killed in the Rose Heights community by unknown assailants, in what was believed to be a robbery at his home. The other fatal shooting took place on Saturday night, when meat shop operator, Evrod Reece, of a Norwood address, was gunned down at his gate.

In a separate incident, 41-year-old Montego Bay dancehall star Neville 'Satta Ranks' Downs, the singer of a new song, 'Partner Plan', was shot twice by gunmen in the Rose Heights area of the western city on Friday night.

Downs is nursing gun shot wounds in the Cornwall Regional Hospital. The singer, one of the local-based acts booked to perform on Reggae Sumfest 2001, reportedly drove into his Rose Heights home only to find visitors who were staying there being robbed by a group of gun-toting thugs.

According to reports, on realising what was happening, he tried to make a hasty retreat by reversing his car out of the yard. However, the gunmen allegedly turned their attention to him, unleashing a barrage of shots in his direction as they left the scene.

When the shooting subsided, it was discovered that Downs was shot twice in his chest. He was promptly rushed to the Cornwall Regional Hospital, where he was taken into emergency surgery and subsequently admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.

The spate of gun violence which has been rocking the city since the start of the year is raising serious concern among residents. Since 2001, there has been a dramatic increase in gun-related crimes, especially murders. Police records show a total of 42 gun-related crimes in the last six months.

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