(Jamaica Observer) The Causeway Fishing Village in Portmore, St Catherine was yesterday the scene of a brazen midday shooting which left two fishermen dead, and dampened Christmas for their fellow fisherfolk.
Up to late yesterday evening police had still not revealed the names of the two slain fishermen, one of whom vendors said was chased and peppered with bullets as he screamed.
It was not clear how the other fisherman — who vendors called ‘Bigga Belly’ — died, but his body remained slumped in the village four hours after the incident. Investigators were still scouring the scene for clues at that time.
The murders were committed shortly after 1:00 pm, one vendor said, recalling a volley of shots that killed his two friends. According to one vendor, the younger victim, whose name was given only as ‘Anthony’, was asleep when one of the gunmen pushed a hand in his pocket.
Anthony immediately jumped up and slapped his attacker’s hand away. This drew the gunman’s wrath, the vendor said.
“Dem pump three (shots) inna him and when him run go out a road dem pump two more inna him and him drop,” said the man, making reference to the busy Dyke Road.
The bandits then made off with at least one igloo filled with fish, and an undetermined sum of money, the vendor said, bemoaning his friend’s killing.
“Di man dem (victims) don’t even see the rest of the December,” he said, his tone sombre.
“This yah shooting yah dampen every body spirit,” interjected another fisherman, standing among a group discussing the murders.
The incident renewed calls from the fish vendors for the authorities to implement stronger security measures at the village. They claimed that “police only patrol the village when suppen happen. And the entrance leave too free; not even a sleeping police in the road,” one man said.
Also yesterday, crowds of residents gathered at a scene in Frazer’s Content in Spanish Town, St Catherine, where gunmen shot dead another man, shortly after 2:00 pm.
The police could not provide any details of that incident either.
