Rose Town man killed while preparing Christmas meal - Three murdered on Christmas, Boxing days

A bereaved Rose Town family is living in fear as they grieve the murder of their loved one as the alleged killer has reportedly threatened to kill all the remaining males in that household.

Twenty-year-old Romain Atkinson was killed in front of his family members on Christmas Day, starting what has been days of terror for relatives.

“Everybody just a try ’cause we still under threat from the same gunman weh kill him. The same gunman that kill him send threat to we that him ago burn we out and him ago kill out all man in a di family,” a relative told The Gleaner yesterday, saying that the frightened family had nowhere else to go.

“We in fear of we life, but we afi stay,” the woman told The Gleaner as a young child peeked through the grille with a worried look.

Atkinson, who was known as the community chef, died while preparing a meal with friends last Friday.

“Dem couldn’t manage the pot, so dem ask him fi tek off the pot … . Mi hear the shot dem and run off. Mi look round and see that a him dem a kill, mi freeze and couldn’t believe … . Mi stand up and watch dem kill him,” a resident told our news team.

Atkinson’s family told The Gleaner that his two-year-old daughter had to be relocated.

The ongoing violence in the space, The Gleaner gathered, is a community-based war which began over a missing firearm.

Residents say the factions know each other very well.

“Is a Rose Town war. Everybody was friend fi true and dem just split apart ... . A nuh everybody in a di war still, but you know how it go,” one woman said.

About three hours before Atkinson’s death, 24-year-old Jermaine Mowatt, otherwise called ‘Boy Boy’, of Spanish Town Road address, was killed in Rose Town.

Residents believe both homicides are connected.

The bloodshed and killing spilled over into Boxing Day, when a dancer from the community was killed.

The cops have since named a number of persons of interest in the case. They are Preston ‘Zazu’ Evan, Dennis ‘Ginsing’ Mundel, a man known as ‘Taliban’, another known as ‘Ozil’ and Ojingo Duhaney. The men are being asked to turn themselves in to the Denham Town Criminal Investigations Branch immediately.

They have also beefed up their presence in the area since the killings, leading to the seizure of two firearms.

The police say about 7 a.m. on Saturday, they heard explosions while on patrol in the area and saw a group of armed men, who they engaged.

A single-action 9mm pistol with two rounds, and a Glock 27 pistol loaded with eight .40 cartridges were seized during the incident.

Efforts by The Gleaner to speak with head of the West Kingston Police Division, Superintendent Michael Phipps, proved futile.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com