Mayhem in the city - Gun violence claims three more in Mtn View

By Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter

Residents of Jarrett Lane off Mountain View Avenue in Kingston, quickly pack barrels and furniture in trucks yesterday while police and soldiers provide security, as they prepare to flee the area. - Ian Allen

GUN VIOLENCE and arson attacks erupted again in the troubled Mountain View Avenue communities yesterday, leaving three more persons dead, five houses fire-bombed and several young children in hospital being treated for smoke inhalation.

Among those killed were 18-year-old Chadwick Atkinson, a resident of Langston Road, and Omar Reynolds, 21, otherwise called 'Maro', a welder of 49 Mountain View Avenue. The two were from an area known as Burgher Gully, a stronghold of the People's National Party (PNP).

The third victim Clarence Lewis, 49, alias "Guardie" was from Jarrett Lane, another PNP territory. Since the death of Jamaica Labour Party worker Sandra 'Diane' Thompson, who was gunned down on September 3 along Jacques Road, the death toll in the troubled communities has climbed to 13 in a series of reprisal killings.

The confrontations escalated on the weekend, with fresh gun and fire-bomb attacks that were not deterred by torrential rains. Reports are at about 11:30 Sunday night during a heavy downpour, gunmen attired in army fatigues and blue uniforms resembling the denim worn by the police, invaded the Burgher Gully area, located below Langston Road.

They went to "Top Burgher" where they kicked down the door leading to Reynold's room and shot him several times, killing him on the spot. They next attacked Atkinson's house where he was also gunned down.

Three hours later, residents of Jarrett Lane said scores of heavily armed gunmen stormed their neighbourhood, firing shots as they moved through the area. The invaders allegedly took Lewis from his home, beat and shot him, then left him to die. Clad only in underpants, Lewis' body was found at daybreak lying on its back near an open lot.

The gunmen then threw fire-bombs into several homes, but as they ventured deeper into the community, they were confronted by another group of gunmen who chased them out of Jarrett Lane.

Residents said the shooting continued for long periods.

"Each time the V150 drive in and out the gunmen come out when it gone," residents said.

Yesterday morning detectives probing the shootings found more than 400 assorted spent shells in the Jarrett Lane area. The evidence suggested that there were two groups of gunmen firing at each other.

The latest bout of violence has sparked another exodus from the area. A number of residents packed their furniture in trucks and moved out. Those who had nowhere to go complained of having sleepless nights, while others said they have been unable to go to work. Some mounted roadblocks on lower Mountain View Avenue, forcing vehicular traffic to divert.

Police Commissioner Francis Forbes who marked his fifth year in office yesterday, visited the scene in the company of National Security Minister K.D. Knight and army Chief of Staff Major General John Simmonds.

Mr. Forbes said his visit was based on the numerous requests to remove the command post from its present location in McGregory Gully, to a more strategic location in the Mountain View community.

"I wanted to get a first hand look of the place, talk to the residents and members of the security forces on the ground," said the Commissioner.

Meantime, there has been an increase in security personnel deployed in the area while authorities continue to search for a suitable site to relocate the command post.

Yesterday's killings have brought the death toll in Jamaica to 835 since the start of the year, of this number, 126 were slain last month, the most to be killed for a month in Jamaica over the past 15 years.

The police also said that 165 more people have been killed so far this year, compared with the 677 deaths for the corresponding period last year.

The Patriots, a group of young professionals aligned with the PNP, has called for an emergency sitting of Parliament to address the spate of killings in the Mountain View area.

The group says it is of utmost urgency that an emergency sitting of Parliament be convened to discuss and conclude a suitable plan aimed at an immediate cessation of the killings, and finding a solution to "the terrorist scourge" now affecting large numbers of persons in this and other inner-city communities.

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