Blood spills on KPH doorstep

What should have been a routine trip to the doctor with his children ended in bloodshed just steps away from the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), where tragedy unfolded on a strip of land long whispered about for fear and turf control.

Yesterday afternoon, 30-year-old Damion ‘Danger’ Henry was gunned down in the unofficial parking area adjacent to the hospital — a space meant to serve the sick, but one now stained by years of violence.

Henry had come for one reason, his relatives said: to seek medical attention for his ailing children.

“Him nuh like when the young children sick, so him want dem look after. If the mother and the kids were ready to go as him reach, they woulda been caught up. Thankfully dem never ready,” a relative told The Gleaner.

Instead, his family and friends would soon be rushing to his aid — and now face the dreaded task of identifying his body at the morgue.

“Him say him never did a go dead over deh, and we tell him fi change up him movements and vehicle — and see it deh,” a woman at the scene said, suggesting that his murder was linked to the battle for turf.

Shortly after 4 p.m., gunmen opened fire on the vehicle Henry and his cousin occupied as they entered the parking lot at the intersection of Princess and North streets — an area residents say has become synonymous with extortion and death.

The Gleaner understands that at least two shooters were already inside the lot, apparently lying in wait for Henry’s arrival.

He was shot in the head and chest while seated behind the steering wheel.

His cousin was also shot and, up to press time, remained in surgery.

For those who witnessed the aftermath, the scene was haunting.

Blood-soaked clothing, shattered glass, and frantic attempts to save the victims marked the moments that followed. First responders, using their bare hands, broke the vehicle’s glass in a desperate bid to reach them.

Relatives said Henry, still strapped in his seat belt, was unresponsive.

In their effort to pull him out, they were covered in his blood.

Outside the hospital, family members waited, clinging to hope — but it never came. Confirmation of Henry’s death sent waves of grief through the group, with relatives weeping openly before retreating to nearby Luke Lane in disbelief and anger.

One woman, his mother-in-law, collapsed despite efforts to support her.

“They tried everything fi save him,” one witness said quietly.

“But it was too much. The shots strike in vital areas, close to him heart and head.”

The parking lot — often filled with visitors seeking care — has long been dogged by allegations of extortion and violent turf wars. On Wednesday, those dark realities surfaced once again.

A visibly shaken woman captured what many believe.

“Di place cursed,” she said.

“Too much people dead over deh. Too much shooting, and nobody never see nothing yet.”

Her words echoed a wider sentiment — that the land carries a grim history written in gunfire and grief.

The most heart-wrenching accounts came from Henry’s relatives, struggling to make sense of the loss.

His children’s mother said she had been gripped by an unshakable sense of dread in the days leading up to the killing.

“The last time mi feel so, my brother dead,” she said, her voice breaking.

She recalled telling Henry about the feeling — one she couldn’t explain — only to now face the devastating reality of his murder.

His mother-in-law, speaking within earshot of journalists, expressed disbelief at how a simple act of fatherhood ended in tragedy.

“Him deh a him yard good good and say him a go carry di baby dem a doctor — and a di doctor this,” she lamented.

The brazen attack sent shock waves through the area, disrupting the very people the space is meant to serve.

Police cordoned off the scene, leaving several motorists stranded with their vehicles trapped behind yellow tape as they returned from visiting loved ones inside the hospital.

Many were stunned.

“Mi just park and go inside … and come back to this,” one woman said, staring at the crime scene.

Henry’s sister, too distraught to speak with The Gleaner, left asking aloud when the cycle of violence would end.

In the immediate aftermath, police swooped down on the area and detained several men, taking them to the Denham Town Police Station for processing.

Law-enforcement sources indicated that the move was aimed at quickly stabilising the situation and preventing reprisals in the tense hours following the killing.

For residents and regular users of the space, Wednesday’s shooting is not an isolated incident, but part of a troubling pattern tied to control of the parking area.

Fees are routinely collected from motorists — sometimes $200 or more — but behind that seemingly ordinary transaction, residents say, lies a dangerous undercurrent of extortion and territorial disputes that has repeatedly spilled into violence.

The area remained tense yesterday evening — families grieving, witnesses shaken, and a community once again forced to confront its fears.

“How much more people a go dead over the parking? No more car nuh fi park ’bout ya,” a resident said.

The Kingston Western police have launched an investigation into the fatal shooting.

As at March 21, the division had recorded seven murders — a 30 per cent decline, or three fewer than the 10 committed during the corresponding period last year.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com