The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

POLICE are investigating two seemingly unrelated murders that occurred within 24 hours of each other yesterday.

In the first incident, a body of a man believed to be in his early twenties was found in the driver’s seat of a blue Honda in front of an uninhabited building in the residential area off Charles W Saunders highway. The still unidentified body had gunshot wounds to the head and arm.

CDU chief, Paul Rolle said the victim in this incident was likely shot on Monday night, although he was found around 10 am Tuesday.

“The shooting incident appeared to take place overnight because by the time we got to the scene, rigor mortis had already begun settling in,” he said. “The victim’s hair was braided. He had a tattoo on one of his upper arms, a row of gold teeth in his mouth and he wore short, cargo jeans and tennis shoes. The car in which the body was found was registered to a female who lives somewhere in Garden Hills.”

Although Mr Rolle said he believed the man was shot in the area in which he was found, residents of the area disagreed.

Brendalee Burrows said: “We are not accustomed to having this happen in this community. This is a quiet, relatively new area and something like this has never happened before.”

“Whoever shot him brought that car here with him in it,” she added. “If someone fires shots around here, we are going to hear them. If persons fire off shots around Soldier Road area, we would hear it from here. I live right here and I didn’t hear any shots and I’m 100 per cent sure that incident didn’t happen here.

“Although I didn’t see the image of the man myself, after hearing the description of him I can say that I’ve never seen someone like that around this area before,” she said.

In the second incident, after responding to calls about gun shots residents say were fired on Lazaretto Street Tuesday evening, police found the lifeless body of a man shot once in the neck and twice in the chest. The man was pronounced dead by EMS personnel on arrival.

The victim in this incident was identified by family and friends as Rapeson Jules, 31, of Cowpen Road. At the crime scene, his inconsolable mother fainted after threatening to kill herself when police officers refused to show her the lifeless body of her son.

The mother, Rosemary Joseph, 48, said: “He was 31 years old and everybody loved him. Just yesterday he came and said ‘Mommy, I bring you pepper.’ Now someone take my son’s life and now I don’t have any more sons and I’m too old to have any more children.”

As undertakers carried the covered body of her son from the scene, the woman wrestled with family and friends who tried to console her. “If I don’t see my son, I’ll kill myself,” she cried, then fainted.

CDU chief Paul Rolle said: “Through preliminary investigations, police learned that the deceased came to visit his friends and was outside with them when three men pulled up in a white Honda and chased after him. We believe the man was in his late twenties or early thirties.”

Police say they are following active leads pertaining to the incidents. They are appealing to the public to assist them in their investigations.