Gang feud linked to soldier’s murder

A on-going gang feud is said the be behind yesterday's early morning attack along Molynes Road which left a member of the Jamaica Defence Force and two other men dead.

The dead soldier has been identified as Private Fernando Dixon, while his suspected killers have been identified as 29-year-old Marlon Rattray of a Maxfield Avenue address, and Shamar Foster of a Spanish Town Road address.

"It is being theorised that this incident is part of an ongoing gang conflict between the Rome gang that is based in the St Andrew Central [area] and the William Lane gang which is based in the St Andrew Western Division, said Head of the Area Four police, Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Michael Phipps.

"Further information revealed that rival gang members attended a party at a popular night club. After leaving the club, members of the Rome gang were travelling in a motor car along Molynes Road when two men travelling on a bike, who we believed are aligned to the William Lane gang, opened fire on the said motor car being driven by the now deceased," Phipps said. Dixon used the vehicle to hit the men from the black motorcycle, killing them on the spot.

A video of the crime scene shows Dixon slumped over the driver's seat of the grey Audi motor car, while the bodies of the gunmen were sprawled on the sidewalk. The badly damaged motorcycle was also seen squeezed between a light pole and a wall. Phipps said two men who were travelling in the Audi motor car were taken into police custody in relation to an alleged crime committed in the Corporate Area.

A 5.56 M16 rifle with a magazine and a Taurus pistol were recovered at the scene.

- S.M.L.