Triple murder rocks Norwood - Dispute over wet telephone the cause
Published:Wednesday | March 9, 2016 | 12:00 AMAdrian Frater
Western Bureau:
Three men were murdered gangland-style in the Shanty Town section of Norwood in Montego Bay, St James, yesterday in what Senior Superintendent of Police Steve McGregor has described as yet another example of the senseless killings plaguing the parish.
"All you have seen here today is as a result of somebody splashing water on a woman's telephone and other persons deciding to settle the matter with guns," said McGregor in revealing the motive for the killings.
"This is not gang-related. This is all about the easy access that these people have to illegal guns."
The persons killed have been identified as Tyrone Hinds, a chef, who is believed to have been the target of the attack; a man identified only as DJ Daville, a sound system operator from the community; and Michael Holder, who also lived in the area.
'Innocent bystanders'
The sound system operator and Holder, who were buying food in a cookshop operated by Hinds, were described as "innocent bystanders" by McGregor.
"What we have is two innocent persons being killed because they just happened to be in this cookshop buying food," said McGregor.
"We know the name of the person whose telephone got wet, and we are asking her family to take her in so we can question her."
According to persons who witnessed the incident, at approximately 12:30 p.m., a car pulled up outside Hinds' cookshop.
Several men, all armed with rifles, alighted and barged into the establishment, firing shots. Hinds was killed behind his counter, while the other two men were shot dead as they tried to flee the scene.
"Mi heard one shot first. Then me hear like the building a tear down. Me seh, 'Dis nuh normal', so mi affi jump off di ladder and tek weh meself," said a construction worker, who was working next door.
"Is a real cold thing gwaan yah today."
According to the residents, Hinds and the woman, whose telephone had got wet, had a dispute on Tuesday and the woman's telephone got wet as they threw water at each other. It is believed that Hinds and the woman once shared an intimate relationship.
"She went to the cookshop and they had an argument. They both threw water at each other and her phone got wet," said a resident, who asked not to be identified.
"She left, claiming that she was 'dissed', and made threats about what she was going to do to him (Hinds)."
According to McGregor, incidents like yesterday's killings regularly play out across the parish, where residents seem to have a penchant to settle disputes, regardless of how simple the matter is, with violence.