The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

EIGHT people were shot, two of them dying, in the space of 24 hours in what The Tribune understands was an attack and retaliation scenario.

However, the official line from police is that they are still working to determine if the incidents are connected.

In what was the latest in a spate of shootings since the 12-hour work shift for police ended, four men were gunned down in Montell Heights yesterday morning. One of them died.

The dead man was identified as Leonardo Cash, 23, who was out on bail on charges of gun possession, housebreaking, stealing and assault. He was also shot by police last year.

Supt Stephen Dean said the four men were sitting near a grocery store on Ethel Street, Montell Heights at around 10am when three men with handguns pulled up in a blue coloured Honda and opened fire on them. Witnesses said it seemed that they wanted to kill “everyone in the yard”.

Police have yet to release the identities of the surviving victims or the details of their injuries, but Fredricka Minnis, a resident of the area, said one of them was shot in the side, another twice in the leg and the third in the stomach.

Police sources claim that this incident was retaliation for the shooting on Deveaux Street and Frogman Lane around 7 o’clock the night before.

While three of the victims in that shooting are still being treated at the Princess Margaret Hospital, one of them, believed to be Vanessa Taylor, a 30-year-old mother, died at the scene. The other woman with her, who was also shot, is believed to be her sister.

Neighbours claimed that this attack might have had something to do with a dispute involving a relative of the victims.

But Assistant Commissioner of Police Anthony Ferguson told The Tribune that despite meetings between senior officers that went on for several hours yesterday, there is still no clear indication of whether the two shootings are connected.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” he said.

He also declined to comment when asked if the shootings could be gang related or in retaliation.

On Monday, a three-year-old child died in a house fire in what his grandparents claimed was an arson attack.

The grandparents said the fire broke out just one day after they had reported to the Wulff Road Police Station about a threat of arson.

Police have not yet said whether this death will be treated as murder.

Last week Monday, the body of a man was shot multiple times in the head and left on a dirt road off Cowpen Road.

Then, on Thursday, two men on a motorcycle rode up to a man standing on the corner of Life Buoy Street and Irish Spring Court and shot him in the groin.

The following day, a man was leaving a club on Robinson Road when a black Honda pulled up and opened fire on him before speeding off.

In September, National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage announced the introduction of a 12-hour work shift for all police officers as necessary in the fight against violent crime.

At the time of the announcement, it was said that desk officers and even Police Band members would have to take to the streets, with Defence Force marines picking up the slack.

Law enforcement officials have praised the effort, citing favourable results, but crime statistics substantiating these claims have yet to be released.

Then, a few weeks ago, with the traditionally high crime holiday season approaching, reports suddenly surfaced that the 12-hour scheme had been scrapped amid complaints from the Police Staff Association.

Though he had announced it, when asked to definitely confirm that the shift system had ended, Dr Nottage passed responsibility off to the Police Commissioner, who has declined to comment on the issue.

When the extended shift system was first launched, former gang leader-turned community activist Valentino “Scrooge” Brown told The Tribune it would only have a short term affect on crime.

“All you do is slow it down for a second,” he said.

“As a criminal, this is what I’m gonna do: the police are hot, the Defence Force are hot, well, I turn a citizen like you. So now I’m doing the things you do – I ain’t toting no gun, I ain’t selling no drugs. I’m stashing all my guns, I’m telling all my boys who I involved with, ‘Look here, we ain’t doing nothing, The Man hot.’

“So, as quick as The Man done finish their 24-hour shift, and everything done cool off a month, two months later, we gonna get my enemies.”