Three murders in bloody St James weekend

The recent lull in murders, which had brought a sense of hope to law-abiding citizens in St James, was breached over last weekend with three murders in three days, one each on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Gangsters continue to resist efforts by the security forces to put an end to the spate of lawlessness, which has all but become a way of life in the western parish.

"I am beyond disappointed with the situation over the weekend ... it is as if there will be no end to the madness with these gangsters," one businessman, who asked not to be identified, told THE STAR. "The entire west is in trouble ... you just need to look at what is happening in Westmoreland and Hanover to realise that we are in a bad situation, which is getting worse daily."

The criminal mayhem started on Friday at 5:40 p.m. when Jerome 'Pampie' Gooden, a resident of Go-Piece Lane in the volatile Salt Spring, was shot and killed in the upscale Coral Gardens community by armed men. The men pulled up alongside Gooden in a white Toyota Axio motor car, and peppered him with bullets. He died on the spot. Because he was killed along the main roadway, there was a major back-up of traffic for several hours.

In the second incident, which occurred on Saturday, at 12:13 p.m., 39-year-old Randy McNeil, of New Road in Flanker, was shot and killed by unknown assailants while walking along the roadway. Flanker, which is considered a volatile community, has been enjoying a fair amount of tranquillity in recent months. In Sunday's incident, which took place in Mt Salem, at 8:30 p.m., an unidentified man was pounced upon by unknown assailants and shot dead. Residents who went to look at the body, which had a section of the head blown off, said they had never seen him before in the community.