A long-running gang feud in Southside, central Kingston, has been reignited with a vengeance, leaving three people dead and four nursing gunshot wounds this week.
Residents of sections of Southside are now cowering in fear as the feud, which many believed had been settled, has seen gangsters targeting their opponents in a deadly game of tit-for-tat.
When the Observer visited the community yesterday, tight-lipped residents refused to speak with our news team as everyone claimed they had no information on the killings.
But Observer sources said the spark for the latest blood-letting was an attack on a group of people in the community on election day in which three people were shot. It is believed that two area leaders, who were in the group, were the targets of those gunmen.
Since then there have been several threats and warnings of reprisals before the three murders this week.
The victims include 26-year-old Ras-Amigo McDonald, a labourer of Fleet Street in the community.
A police report said about 11:55 Tuesday morning, McDonald was sitting on a bucket on Harbour Street when a white motor car drove up to where he was. Two men armed with handguns alighted from the vehicle and opened fire at McDonald, hitting him in his upper body, killing him on the spot. The men then escaped in the waiting motor vehicle.
Hours later, in what is believed to be a reprisal for McDonald’s killing, gunmen attacked 26-year-old Dwayne Dunbar, otherwise called “Killa”, and a 21-year-old woman at the intersection of Barry Street and Maiden Lane.
According to the police report, about 4:30 Tuesday afternoon, Dunbar and the woman were standing at the intersection when they were approached by two men on a motorcycle.
The pillion rider alighted from the motorcycle and opened fire at Dunbar, hitting him in the upper body. The woman ran when the man pointed his gun in her direction and opened fire. She was hit in her left leg and right thigh.
Two police constables, who were at the nearby Gold Street Police Station, responded to the gunfire and rushed to the scene where they saw the gunman about to mount the waiting motorcycle. The gunman pointed his firearm in the direction of the constables who took evasive action and fired at him.
It is now yet known if the gunman was shot by the police but he managed to escape on the motorcycle.
The shootings continued on Thursday when a 27-year-old man, whose name is being withheld, was attacked while standing at the intersection of Love Lane and Charles Street about 5:20 pm. Police say the man was approached by two men armed with handguns who opened fire hitting him in the upper body. He ran and was chased by the men who continued firing at him.
The injured man managed to escape his attackers and was assisted to hospital by residents where he was treated and admitted in serious but stable condition
In the meantime, residents say the killing of a resident of Gold Street, in the neighbouring Kingston Eastern Police Division on Thursday morning, was also linked to the gang feud.
He has been identified as 25-year-old Stephen Hoffman. The police say Hoffman was among a group of men at a construction site on Port Royal Street, near the Tower Street Adult Correction Centre, when a black Nissan AD Wagon drove up and stopped at the left side of the road facing an easterly direction.
Two men immediately alighted from the car brandishing handguns and opened fire in the direction of the group. Hoffman ran but was chased by the two gunmen who continued to fire at him. He was hit multiple times and died on the scene. Two other men in the group were shot but their injuries are not considered life-threatening.
Head of the Kingston Central Police Division Superintendent Maldria Jones directed the Observer to the communication’s arm of the force for any information on the latest flare-up, but our news team saw heavily armed police personnel, some drawn from outside the division, patrolling Southside as crime-weary residents looked on.
