Arthur Hal, Senior Staff Reporter

A CRY for justice echoed across Sherlock Crescent in Duhaney Park, St Andrew, yesterday, as residents continued to struggle to deal with the fatal shooting of two of their neighbours in a nightclub Monday morning.

William Willberforce and Lynchmore Forbes were among four persons killed in the Double Diamond nightclub in St Andrew, during the incident involving a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) corporal early Monday morning.

Yesterday, while the JDF corporal remained in hospital under police guard, friends and relatives of the two men took to the streets in protest against the shooting and demanded justice.

"William a no angel, but him no deserve fi dead that way," Wilberforce's mother told The Gleaner yesterday, as her voice broke.

Difficult reality

Wilberforce's mother said it was difficult to accept that her son had been killed.

"Sometime me lie down fi sleep is like me a see him in front of me, but me have friends and mi church friends keep talking to me," she said.

"Me want justice for him and the people who dead with him."

As Wilberforce's mother wept, friends and neighbours were in a sombre mood as they, too, remembered the two men who had gone to the popular nightclub for a birthday party.

One man who was in the club during the shooting broke down twice as he remembered what he said appeared to be a simple argument which escalated into a bloodbath.

While repeating claims that the JDF corporal opened fire after being confronted by Wilberforce and Forbes, who objected to his attempts to force himself on a woman, the alleged eyewitness trembled as he related what he said was his brush with death.

"After him shoot the two man dem, him come over to me and rest the gun on mi chest and say a no Sherlock you come from, and mi say no, mi just come inna the club.

"Him start ask people fi them ID and me say you want my ID to mi boss, and him say yes, 'cause if a Sherlock you come from you a go dead too," the young man said in a trembling voice.

More information needed

Yesterday, the Major Investigative Task Force (MIT) reported that it had received valuable information and assistance from alleged eyewitnesses, following its appeals for information.

However, the MIT extended its appeal for more information. "It is essential that we find as many witnesses to this horrific incident as possible," an MIT spokesman said in a release.

According to the MIT, investigators found a firearm, 28 nine millimetre casings and other valuable forensic evidence at the scene.