GrangeTyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
Casually clad in a green crotchet blouse and green striped pants to match, Jamaica Labour Party Member of Parliament, Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, seemed far away from last week's ordeal, when bullets rained on a vehicle in which she was travelling.
Ms. Grange, her bodyguard and two 'One Order' gang members one of whom was a top member were caught in a blaze of bullets less than five minutes after a peace meeting last week.
Another car was also shot up, while two other vehicles in the convoy, one of which was carrying the head of a civic group from the MP's constituency, escaped unscathed.
When the smoke cleared, Omar Campbell, aka 'Tickerus' from Tawes Pen in St. Catherine, succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. Another man was also injured.
constantly bothered
Ms. Grange says she is constantly bothered, as her mind relives the ordeal. "Every time I think of it, it bothers me seeing the efforts that are being made to bring sanity to Spanish Town," she said. She is convinced that the attacks are an attempt by unruly elements to thwart the peace efforts.
Trying to relax with a French
manicure complete with design, yesterday Ms. Grange told The Sunday Gleaner that she did not see the hoodlum who opened fire on the party, but, she heard the gunshots and felt the impact of the bullets piercing through the metal of the car.
"All I could say to everybody in the car is: "Duck! Duck! Go dung!" And, I said to the driver: "Don't stop, drive," said an animated 'Babsy'. Although shaken by the occurrence, Ms. Grange said that she was never scared. "When I am in danger, I don't get scared. Somehow nothing frightens me," she said with a defiant fire in her eye.
left danger zone
She said her bodyguard could have fired back but she did not think it was wise, so she left the danger zone.
However, in a telephone interview, the top member of the One Order gang who was travelling with Ms. Grange laid the blame for the incident squarely at the feet of his opponents from the Clansman Gang.
The senior One Order member said that intelligence gathered has revealed that the shooter really wanted to kill 'Tickerus'.
Despite her belief that the shooter wanted to annihilate all the persons in the convoy, Babsy boldly and defiantly said that she is not going to cower in fear or shrivel up and die.
Ms. Grange said that she has a responsibility as MP to see to the safety and security for the children of central St. Catherine. "I am concerned that that development that I want to see may not happen in my lifetime, not because I am concerned that I am going to die soon. Let me make that clear.
