- PHOTO BY PETER GRAHAM
Late popular dancer, Gerald 'Bogle' Levy (centre, in white tam) is seen here on Wednesday night with fellow patrons of 'Weddy Weddy Wednesdays' on Burlington Avenue, watching a cock fight just hours before he was fatally shot.
Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter
THE KILLING of dancehall icon Bogle has already left stains on the inner city and not just in his Lincoln Crescent community in St. Andrew.
Bogle, christened Gerald Levy, was killed at a service station on Constant Spring Road, St. Andrew, some time around 3:00 a.m. yesterday. Less than five hours later, the Dillion Avenue house of another popular dancer, John 'John Hype' Prendergast, was firebombed. It is strongly believed that the latter incident was a reprisal for Bogle's killing as both dancers were said to be involved in a feud.
ALTERCATION
In the early hours of yesterday morning, Bogle was attending what turned out to be his last dance: the 'Weddy Weddy Wednesdays' held at the Burlington Avenue headquarters of the Stone Love sound system.
At approximately 2:35 a.m., he had an altercation with some men the reasons for which are still unclear. Bogle and his entourage left and while purchasing gas at the service station, two men rode up on a motorbike. One fired gunshots at the group, killing Bogle. The other four persons were injured and taken to hospital.
Hours later, news of the fire broke. When The Gleaner arrived at the scene about 8:30 a.m., smoke was still swirling from what was left of the house at the back of the yard. The rear section of another house was also damaged. It took units from the Half-Way Tree, Rollington Town, York Park and Trench Town stations to bring it under control.
SOME POSSESSIONS SAVED
Occupants of the houses were able to save some of their possessions including dressers and a few appliances. Some sat with forlorn faces while others removed other items from the blackened mess as firemen extinguished the last of the flames. Afterwards, they carefully poked through the rubble in an attempt to learn more about the fire's origin.
Bogle came to prominence in the early 1990s when he created a self-titled dance, immortalised in song by DJ Buju Banton. Since then, he has been credited with creating such dances as the 'Urkel', 'World-a-Dance', and more recently 'Row Like a Boat'.
