Bloody start to July

Noelita Lawrence – Staff Reporter

With crime statistics indicating that so far, June has been the bloodiest month in the tiny island’s history over a ten-year period, July is shaping up to be history-making too with six persons killed, including two women, in St. James, since the start of the month. Six others were also wounded, including two teenagers.

Those killed are Oshane Thelwell of Rose Heights; 28 year-old Caldev Reid, otherwise called ‘Shabba’ of Potosie district; 38 year-old student nurse, Gillian Reid of Irwindale, 30 year-old Arnold Taylor, also known as ‘Mikey’ of Church Lane, Norwood; 53 year-old Jacqueline Bowen of Irwin, and 23-year-old Anthony Mark Lowe, also known as ‘Chad’, of Antigua Avenue, Cornwall Court.

The killings unfolded over a four-day period, with the first occurring in the middle-class community of Cornwall Court.

In that incident, Lowe’s throat was slashed on Saturday night (July 1).

Reports from the St. James Police Division are that about 9:20 p.m., citizens saw Lowe running through a footpath along Bahamas Avenue with blood streaming down his neck. He subsequently collapsed.

The Montego Bay Criminal Investigation Branch say they are yet to establish a motive for the killing, but have launched an investigation into the matter.

This came about mere minutes after a barrage of gunshots were heard in the Cornwall Court community, and a man injured after a lone gunman invaded the home he and his girlfriend share. 

The man was shot in the hand while the woman escaped unhurt.

Thelwell, a craft vendor of Matches Lane, Rose Heights, was cut down in a hail of bullets as he stood at the entrance of the craft market along Gloucester Avenue, popularly called “Bottom Road”.

It is said that he was standing when motor vehicles drove up and a man alighted from one of them and opened fire, hitting him in the head and upper body.

He died on arrival at the Cornwall Regional Hospital.

IRWIN FATALITIES

Elsewhere, the Irwin community was left in tatters between Sunday and Monday after two women, Reid and Bowen, were gunned down in separate incidents, which Police are yet to determine if they are linked.

Reid, a student nurse, was murdered by unknown assailants in her community on Monday, July 3, as she made her way home from a nearby shop.

Reports gleaned from the Mt. Salem Police are about 8:50 p.m., Reid left a shop, where she had gone to purchase items, when on reaching a section of the football field located just behind the shop, she was attacked by armed men.

According to credible sources, she attempted to run from the men who fired several shots at her, hitting her four times in the back.

The deceased, who had only recently started nursing school, was described as “a people person, very intelligent, polite and jovial.”

She leaves behind two boys ages 11 and 10.

All this after a daring shooting spree, involving the use of high-powered weapons, including an AK-47, sent travelling mourners scurrying for cover as they made their way from burying their dead, on Sunday, July 2.

Bowen was shot and killed in that incident, while the two teenagers and three others received gunshot wounds and were taken to hospital.

The Western Mirror received information that about 7:30 p.m. Bowen and the others were among persons travelling in a Toyota Coaster bus on the Irwin main road when two men on a motorcycle rode up alongside the bus and opened sustained gunfire.

NORWOOD SLAYING

Meanwhile, the mayhem was also evident in Norwood, where Taylor was shot and killed by unknown assailants on Wednesday night, June 28.

Indications are that shortly after 10 p.m., explosions were heard in the area and the police alerted, however, immediate checks of the area turned up nothing.

About eight hours later, (Thursday, June 29) Taylor’s bullet-riddled body was found metres from his home.

LATIUM

 And, a lone gunman ended the life of37 year-old Darrian Cummings of Latium District, St.  James, on Tuesday at about11:15a.m.

Cummings, who operated a white Toyota Corolla motorcar as a robot taxi, had arrived home and alighted from the vehicle when he was approached by a man armed with a gun, who opened fire hitting him.