Nagra Plunkett, Assignment Coordinator

WESTERN BUREAU:

Investigators say an ongoing gang feud between rival gangs is behind Wednesday night's double murder in Rosemount, St. James, in which two men were gunned down by armed thugs.

Police have released the identities of the victims as 29-year-old shopkeeper Harold 'Bulla' Hastings and Christopher Williams, 42, both of Rosemount addresses.

The killings have pushed St. James' murder rate to 97 since January, the same figure for the corresponding period last year.

Reports are that both men were sitting at Hastings' shop on Daffodil Close in the Rosemount community about 7:30 p.m. when a silver Toyota Fielder motor car drove up. It is said that four men alighted from the vehicle and fired on the men.

Pronounced dead

Williams, also known as 'Chef', was pronounced dead at the Cornwall Regional Hospital, while Hastings died while receiving medical attention. Nearly forty 9mm spent shells were recovered from the scene, along with 12-gauge cartridges.

The communities of Rosemount and Green Pond have been tense since July 30 when Raymond 'Pumphouse' Stevens was attacked and fatally shot by gunmen in the Green Pond area.

The police reported that, shortly after this incident, a group of men went in search of a youth who they claimed was involved in the shooting. A man known only as 'Bigga' was shot twice in the upper body.

A house was also firebombed, during which a woman sustained burns to the body and had to be hospitalised.

Later on August 2, the body of 42-year-old Ricardo Taylor was discovered with multiple gunshot wounds, lying in the vicinity of the Glendevon Market in Montego Bay.

Investigators say the killing of Taylor, who was the father of a reputed member of the Stone Crusher gang, Gerado Taylor, was an act of vengeance for Stevens' murder.

nagra.plunkett@gleanerjm.com