Mother of four gunned down

Three women have been shot, two fatally, between Sunday and yesterday in what is believed to be a deadly feud in Bow Tie Land along Spanish Town Road in the St Andrew South Police Division.

Among the latest victims is a 39-year-old hairdresser Stephanie Boland, otherwise called 'Browning', who was killed along Delamere Avenue on Waltham Park Road on Monday. The blood running from the sidewalk onto the roadway told the horrific tale of what happened to the mother of four as she went to pick up her three-year-old son from school.

A senior cop from the St Andrew South Police Division said about 11:45 a.m., the woman was walking along Delamere Avenue when she was attacked and shot several times by men travelling on a motorcycle. She was transported to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Boland's murder followed a double murder in the area on Sunday. Twenty-year-old Shakira Thomas and 21-year-old Tyler Taylor, both of Bow Tie Land, were at home when armed men entered and opened gunfire hitting them multiple times. Both were transported to hospital, where they were pronounced dead. Another woman was shot and injured following the couple's murder.

Yesterday, other than the police and a dog, there was no sign of life in Bow Tie Land. Business places as well as houses were shut tight. Some residents, including Boland's relatives had already fled the area. As he peered around the corner at the team of police officers, a senior citizen said he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the lawmen within the embattled space. The man, who identified himself as a small business owner, said he is now relying on his savings to carry him through, as he was forced to close his establishment due to the deadly war. The resident, who is in his 60s, described the flare-up of violence as "frightening".

"Is the first mi see the place look suh. Mi a walk a while ago and mi nuh see a soul except the police. Mi almost turn back. Yuh know say it serious when dem start kill off the innocent women dem. Everybody fraid. Mi end up have to lock my place because a Thursday dem kill a man close to it. Mi can't run away because is here suh mi born and grow and mi don't have anywhere else to go," he said.