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Terror in Denham Town
Four shot dead, five injured
KERRY MCCATTY, Observer staff reporter
Thursday, November 09, 2006
A policeman stands guard at the spot in Denham Town yesterday morning where one of four men was shot dead Tuesday night. (Photo: Michael Gordon)
FOUR people were brutally cut down by heavily armed gunmen in Denham Town between Tuesday night and yesterday morning, in what the police said was a bitter gang feud in the tough West Kingston community.
Police and soldiers throughout yesterday and into last night had regular patrols in the troubled community as they tried to stem any further outbreak of gun violence in the impoverished inner-city community.
The police identified three of the dead as Fabian Brown of Charles Street, and Patrick Davis, alias Longhead, 43, and Cleveland Kelly, 42, of Dumphrey and Blunt streets in Denham Town. The other victim was not identified.
Brown was cut down on Charles Street, while Davis and Kelly were killed at the intersection of Nelson and Wellington streets, while the body of the fourth victim, the police said, was found on Race Course Lane.
Five others, including two Jamaica Defence Force soldiers who were part of a joint police/military patrol, were shot and injured in the Denham Town shootings. Two of the injured men, the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) reported, were identified as gang members who fired on the security forces earlier. The men, whose names were not released, were held when they turned up at the University Hospital with gunshot wounds.
The CCN said a Ruger 9mm pistol, bearing serial number 31256916, and which was loaded with 12 rounds was seized by the police after it was dropped by one of the men who fired at the security patrol.
Yesterday, 300 school children from the Corporate Area, who had gathered at the Bethany Gospel Hall for Jamaica Child Evangelism Fellowship's World Day of Prayer, prayed for peace in Denham Town, after they were told that their counterparts from Denham Town could not spend the afternoon with them because of violence in that community.
And so the children prayed.
". Save our children from all this violence. heal our nation so that this crime and violence will stop dear Lord and cover us in your arms."
"Lord tell the gunmen to just put down the guns and realise they can't put breath into people. we just ask you to tellthem that killing is not a good thing," was the prayer of Vaz Preparatory's Tahaliea Thomas.
Head of the Kingston West police Superintendent Delroy Hewitt said the bloody feud might have started as far back as April this year when a man tried to break away from the main cell of a gang in the adjoining community of Tivoli Gardens area and tried to start an offshoot gang in the "Shooter's Hill" area of Denham Town.
"We still have a commitment to protect innocent people," Hewitt said yesterday.
The police theorise that the murder of Brown, who was believed to be a member of the offshoot gang, called Cowboy, could have led to the other shootings.
Yesterday morning, partially sun-dried blood marked the sidewalks at the intersection of Wellington and Nelson Streets where two of the men were shot dead. Only a few brave residents were seen milling around, a sharp contrast to the dozens of residents who are normally seen in these areas. Schools were, however, in session as the police did their usual patrols.
Residents said they hoped there would be no further violent outbreaks, but would not be surprised if any were to occur in the coming days.
A woman who said she was Davis' sister and gave her name as Paulette, said her brother was easy-going.
Another woman, who described herself as a close friend of Davis, said the deceased man was sitting on the corner among other people, playing with her daughter when a group of gunmen approached and opened fire.
"Mi nuh know a weh dem come from, 'bout 300 gunman wid black mask over dem face," the woma
Four shot dead, five injured
KERRY MCCATTY, Observer staff reporter
Thursday, November 09, 2006
A policeman stands guard at the spot in Denham Town yesterday morning where one of four men was shot dead Tuesday night. (Photo: Michael Gordon)
FOUR people were brutally cut down by heavily armed gunmen in Denham Town between Tuesday night and yesterday morning, in what the police said was a bitter gang feud in the tough West Kingston community.
Police and soldiers throughout yesterday and into last night had regular patrols in the troubled community as they tried to stem any further outbreak of gun violence in the impoverished inner-city community.
The police identified three of the dead as Fabian Brown of Charles Street, and Patrick Davis, alias Longhead, 43, and Cleveland Kelly, 42, of Dumphrey and Blunt streets in Denham Town. The other victim was not identified.
Brown was cut down on Charles Street, while Davis and Kelly were killed at the intersection of Nelson and Wellington streets, while the body of the fourth victim, the police said, was found on Race Course Lane.
Five others, including two Jamaica Defence Force soldiers who were part of a joint police/military patrol, were shot and injured in the Denham Town shootings. Two of the injured men, the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) reported, were identified as gang members who fired on the security forces earlier. The men, whose names were not released, were held when they turned up at the University Hospital with gunshot wounds.
The CCN said a Ruger 9mm pistol, bearing serial number 31256916, and which was loaded with 12 rounds was seized by the police after it was dropped by one of the men who fired at the security patrol.
Yesterday, 300 school children from the Corporate Area, who had gathered at the Bethany Gospel Hall for Jamaica Child Evangelism Fellowship's World Day of Prayer, prayed for peace in Denham Town, after they were told that their counterparts from Denham Town could not spend the afternoon with them because of violence in that community.
And so the children prayed.
". Save our children from all this violence. heal our nation so that this crime and violence will stop dear Lord and cover us in your arms."
"Lord tell the gunmen to just put down the guns and realise they can't put breath into people. we just ask you to tellthem that killing is not a good thing," was the prayer of Vaz Preparatory's Tahaliea Thomas.
Head of the Kingston West police Superintendent Delroy Hewitt said the bloody feud might have started as far back as April this year when a man tried to break away from the main cell of a gang in the adjoining community of Tivoli Gardens area and tried to start an offshoot gang in the "Shooter's Hill" area of Denham Town.
"We still have a commitment to protect innocent people," Hewitt said yesterday.
The police theorise that the murder of Brown, who was believed to be a member of the offshoot gang, called Cowboy, could have led to the other shootings.
Yesterday morning, partially sun-dried blood marked the sidewalks at the intersection of Wellington and Nelson Streets where two of the men were shot dead. Only a few brave residents were seen milling around, a sharp contrast to the dozens of residents who are normally seen in these areas. Schools were, however, in session as the police did their usual patrols.
Residents said they hoped there would be no further violent outbreaks, but would not be surprised if any were to occur in the coming days.
A woman who said she was Davis' sister and gave her name as Paulette, said her brother was easy-going.
Another woman, who described herself as a close friend of Davis, said the deceased man was sitting on the corner among other people, playing with her daughter when a group of gunmen approached and opened fire.
"Mi nuh know a weh dem come from, 'bout 300 gunman wid black mask over dem face," the woma
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