Nagra Plunkett, Staff Reporter
Pastor Desmond Rankine - CONTRIBUTED
WESTERN BUREAU:
A WOMAN and a man were detained yesterday in connection with the suspected contract killing of a 50-year-old St. James pastor at Tucker, Irwin, in the parish on Wednesday night.
Desmond Rankine, pastor of the Irwin Community Church of the Nazarene, was shot three times to his upper body as he and his family made their way from church in a Toyota Hiace bus.
"We are not saying it is a contract killing. Based on what is available to us it appears that he was killed over a dispute for land, where his church is," said Superintendent John Morris, crime chief for the Area One Police Division.
Pastor Rankine, who also operated Global Evangelism Centre in Montego Bay, is said to have received threats on his life which were reported to the police.
He is the 128th person to be killed in the parish since the start of the year, one fewer than the entire 12 months last year.
KILLED ON THE SPOT
The police say the pastor was making his way through a narrow road about 10:15 p.m., when two armed men opened fire at him killing him on the spot. Five .380 spent shells and an expended bullet were also recovered from the scene.
His eldest of five children, Colette, remembered her father as a man of principle, who wanted only the best for his children.
"I feel like I am in a dream. I didn't expect my father to die like this, maybe for him to get ill but not like this," she said.
His supervisor, Reverend Lionel Brown, district superintendent for the West Jamaica Church of the Nazarene, takes comfort in the fact that Pastor Rankine died doing the Lord's work.
"What we are excited about is that he died in the battlefield, on his way from prayer meeting where he had just preached his last sermon. With all knowledge, he was dynamic, selfless and always engaged himself in so much community activities," Rev. Brown commented.
"The church community at this time is in shock. We know we are not here to stay, but we do not expect one like him to pass on so quickly."
