Brothers gunned down in Westmoreland

Just three days after Westmoreland recorded the first double murder of the year, tragedy struck again on Tuesday morning when two brothers were murdered in the quiet community of Carawina.

The deceased have been identified as 43-year-old Dervin Jones, and 41-year-old Sheldon Jones. Police report that shortly after midnight on Tuesday, the brothers were sitting in their yard having a drink, when they were ambushed and shot multiple times by armed men. Family members said they overheard the gunshots, but did not know that they were being fired in their own yard, and it was not until about 5:30 a.m. that they discovered the victims lying in a pool of blood. The police were summoned and upon arrival, the brothers were taken to the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital where they were pronounced dead. Their sister Nadine Jones-Abbot said that her brothers were honest and hard-working individuals.

"My mother passed away on the 13th of July, 2021 and wi bury har on the 24th of September. My brother Dervin never get to come to the funeral because he was in Cayman, and him have problems coming to Jamaica," Jones-Abbot said. "An him come on the 24th of December, said him gonna spend couple weeks wid us, and today (Tuesday) is his birthday, and wi plan that wi gwan cook some hog head, an have a nice time, and drink few liquor an dem stuff deh. And this is what tragedy struck wi this morning. Wi brother die on his birthday, along with his next brother."

She said that Dervin had not returned to Jamaica for three years. "[It] very hard fi di family, a don't know how wi gwan cope." Relatives are skeptical about motive as the gunmen did not take cash or valuables.

Westmoreland recorded a double murder on January 1, when 22-year-old Tajay Stewart and 29-year-old Damar Martin, both unemployed of Frazer Land, in Cornwall Mountain, were shot and killed by armed men in the community just hours after ringing in 2022. Five persons have been killed in the parish so far.