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Church invaded - but that happens in Florida all the time!
Church invaded
Teen, dad injured in bloody attack during service HORACE HINES, Observer staff reporter
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
NORWOOD, St James - All hell broke loose during Sunday's worship service at the Paradise United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands when three men brandishing knives and machetes invaded the church and inflicted several wounds to a 17-year-old student in the congregation, and his father who attempted to help him.
Yesterday, the police theorised that the injured teen was attacked in retaliation for his alleged involvement in the shooting of a man in the tough Norwood community Saturday night.
"It is alleged that the man who was stabbed was a part of a group that shot a man in his stomach in Norwood Square the night before, so the group went for him in retaliation," commander of the St James Police Division, Superintendent Steve McGregor, told the Observer yesterday.
According to Corporal Ulette Lewis Green, the Constabulary Communication Network liaison officer for St James, the church choir was singing when three men armed with ratchet knives and a short machete, popularly referred to on the streets as "Cuban", attacked the student, chopping and stabbing him several times.
The teen's father, who is a member of the church choir, went to the assistance of his son and was also hurt during the fracas.
Members of the community were yesterday tightlipped about the incident. However, an Observer source said that the brazen attack shocked worshippers, many of whom screamed as they scampered for safety.
After the attack, both injured men were taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where the father was treated and sent home and his son admitted in serious condition.
When the Observer contacted the regional headquarters of the church yesterday, a high ranking female member, who declined to be identified by name, condemned the incident.
"Everybody is very distraught about it. Nothing like that ever happen before. Every day something new is happening and we are very frightened, really very frightened," she lamented. "We have to go pray to God. Everybody has to get down and pray to God, hoping it would never happen again. We are very frightened about it. We are very disturbed about the incident, very disturbed. It is the talk of the town. Everybody is frightened. It is in the church. We know things happen outside and around, but somebody going into the church to do something like that - we are perturbed. We are perturbed."
Teen, dad injured in bloody attack during service HORACE HINES, Observer staff reporter
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
NORWOOD, St James - All hell broke loose during Sunday's worship service at the Paradise United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands when three men brandishing knives and machetes invaded the church and inflicted several wounds to a 17-year-old student in the congregation, and his father who attempted to help him.
Yesterday, the police theorised that the injured teen was attacked in retaliation for his alleged involvement in the shooting of a man in the tough Norwood community Saturday night.
"It is alleged that the man who was stabbed was a part of a group that shot a man in his stomach in Norwood Square the night before, so the group went for him in retaliation," commander of the St James Police Division, Superintendent Steve McGregor, told the Observer yesterday.
According to Corporal Ulette Lewis Green, the Constabulary Communication Network liaison officer for St James, the church choir was singing when three men armed with ratchet knives and a short machete, popularly referred to on the streets as "Cuban", attacked the student, chopping and stabbing him several times.
The teen's father, who is a member of the church choir, went to the assistance of his son and was also hurt during the fracas.
Members of the community were yesterday tightlipped about the incident. However, an Observer source said that the brazen attack shocked worshippers, many of whom screamed as they scampered for safety.
After the attack, both injured men were taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where the father was treated and sent home and his son admitted in serious condition.
When the Observer contacted the regional headquarters of the church yesterday, a high ranking female member, who declined to be identified by name, condemned the incident.
"Everybody is very distraught about it. Nothing like that ever happen before. Every day something new is happening and we are very frightened, really very frightened," she lamented. "We have to go pray to God. Everybody has to get down and pray to God, hoping it would never happen again. We are very frightened about it. We are very disturbed about the incident, very disturbed. It is the talk of the town. Everybody is frightened. It is in the church. We know things happen outside and around, but somebody going into the church to do something like that - we are perturbed. We are perturbed."
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