A Westmoreland family was left mourning and homeless in the early hours Wednesday morning when armed thugs invaded their home, shot dead a family member, set fire to the house and then escaped.

The dead woman, whose charred remains were found in the burnt-out house at Retrieve district in the Little London area of the parish, has been identified as 24-year-old cosmetologist Romana White.

White's mother, father and a brother, who were also at home at the time of the horrifying invasion, somehow managed to escape both the fire and the hail of bullets with only minor injuries.

"Losing my house is hard but losing my daughter is almost too painful to accept," said White's distraught father, Gerald.

He added: "I can build back a new house but I can't get back another Romana."

Strange sounds

According to reports, White and his family were asleep when they were awakened by barking dogs and strange sounds outside their house about 1:30 a.m. Two armed men opened fire on the dwelling.

An explosion was heard as the thugs tossed a Molotov cocktail bomb into the 20x12-ft board structure. Faced with the choice between being burnt alive and risking being shot running out of the building - the family decided on the latter.

After braving the fire and making their escape with the gunmen chasing them in the darkness and firing shots at them, the father, mother and brother subsequently discovered that Romana was not with them.

adrian.frater@gleanerjm.com