Claudine Housen, Staff Reporter
A parent consoles a traumatised Montego Bay High School student who was among several who heard shots fired on the road adjacent to the St. James school yesterday. Several students were said to have fainted while another 10 to 12 were rushed to hospital with asthma attacks after the shots were fired about 10:00 a.m. - CLAUDINE HOUSEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
WESTERN BUREAU:
STUDENTS OF Montego Bay High School in St. James were traumatised when a man was gunned down in the vicinity of the school yesterday morning.
Children at Faith Basic School, located on the same street where the shooting occurred, were also shaken by the incident.
Reports are that, about 10:00 a.m., the students were in class when shots were heard coming from Perry Street.
When The Gleaner arrived on the scene at Montego Bay High, students were seen crying, parents were steadily streaming in to collect their children, and others were receiving counselling from Education Ministry counsellors who took them through a series of songs such as Gyptian's These Are Some Serious Times.
"They were in class when three gunshots were fired one after the other at the Church of Jesus Christ on Perry Street," said one teacher who asked that her name be withheld.
MAN SHOT IN THE BACK
According to the teacher, a man was shot in the back three times by an assailant who later ran through the school property to make good his escape. The teacher further stated that some of the students who might have seen the assailant now fear for their lives.
An emotionally strained Faith Clemmings, Montego Bay High principal, said it was the first time the school had experienced such an incident in its 70-year history.
"Quite a lot of the students are traumatised," she said. "Those who have asthma suffered attacks and several carloads had to be taken to hospital."
Hyacinth Armstrong, principal of Faith Basic School, was yesterday thanking God that none of her children were late for school.
"It is a good thing that none of the students were late this morning or they might have walked right into it," Mrs. Armstrong remarked. "Usually you would have a few coming in after devotion, but today all of them were early."
The police would not identify the shooting victim, but said he was taken to hospital in serious condition.
The incident is under investigation.
