(Jamaica Observer) Three brothers and one of their spouses were killed after they were pinned inside three houses and peppered with bullets by a group of marauding gunmen during a pre-dawn attack yesterday.
The deceased individuals have been identified as 31-year-old mechanic Howard Humes; 23-year-old Shavane Humes; 33-year-old farmer Paulton Humes, otherwise called ‘Dwight’; and 25-year-old Keneisha Wilson, all of the Masemure Meadows Housing Scheme in Little London, Westmoreland.
Wilson and Paulton’s five-year-old son was spared by the armed thugs.
Screams for help and gunshots shattered the still of the early morning as the heavily armed gunmen lined the road that runs adjacent to the three houses.
The hoodlums, some armed with high-powered Kalashnikov rifles and others toting pistols, kicked open the doors to the three houses, consecutively, killing the occupants. However, they showed mercy on the boy.
The five-year-old was reportedly ushered outside the third house, which he occupied with his parents, by the gunmen, and left to fend for himself in the wee hours.
He was subsequently rescued by the police who were summoned to the area.
“We actually found a little boy there, the son of the male and female. He was not harmed. He was eventually taken to safety,” Superintendent Gary McKenzie, commander for the Westmoreland Police Division, told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.
He reported that at about 1:15 am, the police were alerted to explosions in the Masemure Meadows Housing Scheme. Upon their arrival, they went to three one-bedroom apartments where they saw the doors ajar. When they checked inside, the cops found three males and a female with gunshot wounds.
They were taken to hospital where they were pronounced dead.
Each of the brothers occupied one of the three one-bedroom houses.
Superintendent McKenzie noted yesterday that the police have not yet determined a motive for the quadruple murder.
He confirmed that in recent years, a sister of the three brothers, and an uncle, also met violent deaths.
Meanwhile, one of the deceased was released from prison over a year ago, where he served time for a “serious offence”.
One resident claimed to have walked on to the scene when the mayhem started, and had to hide in a nearby canefield until the shooting died down.
“I hear dem (gunmen) a kick off the door dem and a buss shot. I hear a little boy crying, but them put him outside and say him should go up by his aunty. Every time mi remember, mi heart shake.
“Me glad how them don’t kill the little youth,” the passer-by said while recounting the grim tale.
Early in May, rampaging gunmen shot and killed seven people, including a child, and injured 10 people in Grange Hill, Westmoreland.
Superintendent McKenzie noted that since then, the police in the parish, with the assistance of other police units, have been making significant inroads in stemming criminal activities, arresting gangsters and seizing illegal firearms.
In fact, he argued that the quadruple killing occurred out of the blue, as the community in which it unfolded is a very peaceful one.
“This particular area has not caused us any problem at all. But the general area is linked to the Grange Hill space, which is an area that we have been monitoring from time to time. And certainly, we did not expect this, but what has been happening over time is that the quieter areas, gangsters, in an effort to avoid the police on their radar, put themselves in areas that are quiet,” the head of the Westmoreland Police Division said.
He argued that the modus operandi of some of the criminals in Westmoreland is to hide out in quiet communities.
