Glenroy Sinclair and Rasbert Turner, Gleaner Writers
SIX SUSPECTS implicated in Tuesday night's shooting of four persons and the burning of three houses yesterday morning, in the hilly terrain of Windsor Heights, Central Village, St. Catherine, are being pursued by the police.
This was confirmed yesterday by Deputy Superintendent Colin Pinnock, the crime officer for the St. Catherine South Police Division. The superintendent has linked both incidents to an internal feud between factions from different sections of the community known as 'Sam Sharpe Square', 'Elbo' and 'TLC Corner'.
TWO DIED ON THE SPOT
Two of those shot died on the spot, while the other two have been hospitalised. The dead have been identified as 33-year-old Novelette Johnson and 23-year-old Greg Blake. Reports are that Miss Johnson is the sister of an influential member of the community. She is also the third member of one family to have been murdered over the past eight months.
The killings have pushed the country's homicide rate past the 1,500 mark. Up to yesterday morning the figure stood at 1,502. Last year 1,471 people were murdered in Jamaica.
Reports related to Tuesday's shooting are that shortly after 6:00 p.m., Mr. Blake was a passenger in a taxi travelling along the Windsor Heights main road, when on reaching 'Elbo Corner', two men opened fire on the car, hitting him and the driver.
The gunmen then proceeded to 'Sam Sharpe Square' where they killed Miss Johnson and injured another man. The police were summoned to the area again early yesterday morning, after gunmen set three houses ablaze.
On Tuesday, the Jamaica Constabulary Force's crime chief, Deputy Commissioner Mark Shields, said the police were in the process of introducing new policing methods across the various divisions, in an attempt to reduce the high crime rate.
