By Robert Lalah, Staff ReporterTHE PORTMORE community is today reeling from the shooting deaths of three of its residents by unknown assailants early Saturday night.
The victims have been identified as 51-year-old Ronnie Bennett, slot machine operator of Braeton; Alvest O'Mally, 57, of Bridgeport, and Cornel Bruce, 40, security guard of Waterford, all in Portmore, St. Catherine. An unidentified man from Edgewater, was injured and taken to the Spanish Town Hospital. More than 1,000 persons have so far been murdered since the start of the year.
Reports from the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) are that about 8:30 p.m. Saturday, three armed men entered Nid's Vintage Pub in Naggo Head and immediately opened fire hitting the four men. Bennett and Bruce died on the spot, while the two injured men were taken to hospital where O'Mally died and the other man admitted. Investigators say Bennett's licensed firearm was taken by his killers who fled the scene in a waiting motor car.
When The Gleaner visited the murder scene yesterday, residents were at a loss as to the reasons behind the killings. A woman who claimed to have witnessed most of what happened, said the bar was jam-packed with persons watching the football match (Jamaica vs Panama) on television, when a suspicious looking man man walked in. She said that, being a regular at the bar, she couldn't recall having seen the man before
"Wid how tings a go now, mi get suspicious anytime somebody strange come here," the eyewitness noted. She said moments later, two other men walked in and the three immediately brandished handguns. "Dem tell everybody fi hold up dem hand and look down. After dat, mi just hear shot a fire left and right and mi run out", she said.
The eyewitness said she ran through a back door into an adjoining house until she heard persons saying the men had fled. She said she returned to the bar to find the bullet riddled bodies of men she knew for close to 20 years. "Mi deh here almost 20 years now and dem deh right here wid mi di whole time," the woman explained.
LOVE
Other persons spoke about the love one of the deceased Bennett had for his young daughter.
"Ronnie woulda always tell everybody bout him daughter, and bout how him hope she never change. Him love her so till," said one bystander.
Residents say Mr. Bennett's daughter and wife were among the first to arrive at the scene after the killing. They described the moment as heartbreaking, when Mrs. Bennett cried uncontrollably over the blood drenched body of her husband.
The St. Catherine South Homicide Team, which confirmed that two other bars in Portmore were robbed earlier that night, are investigating.
