CLARENDON:
TENSION HAS been rising in the Queen Street area of Toll Gate in Clarendon from Wednesday evening following the release of three men who were charged for the murder of a man killed last year June in the community.
Two people were reportedly shot and injured when gunmen, travelling in a car, opened fire on Wednesday on the gathering at the home where the three men lived.
The injured have been identified as 55-year-old Leslie Logan, a fireman employed to the May Pen fire station and 22-year-old Kailon Thomas.
Both men were taken to the May Pen hospital. Logan was transferred to the Kingston Public Hospital in serious condition.
The three men Robert Lawson, Kenrick Carridice and Oneil Johnson were released on Wednesday subsequent to their murder trial in the Clarendon Circuit Court, after the jury returned a not guilty verdict.
According to Heather Thomas, aunt of the three men, the home was attacked at about 7:40 on Wednesday night while family members were having drinks. A car with an undetermined number of men drove up and stopped at the gate.
She said her brother, who had earlier called for a taxi, went towards the car. However, when he opened the car door, he saw men with guns and tried to run. The men opened fire on him.
Miss Thomas said her brother Leslie Logan, received gun shots in his back and fell to the ground. She further said that, on seeing what happened, everyone started to run and the gunmen again opened fire. Her nephew, Kailon Thomas, was shot in the legs.
She told The Gleaner that the car sped away when a family member threw a stone into the vehicle.
According to Miss Thomas the family had received threats prior to Wednesday that they would be killed. As a result, she said that the family has been living in fear and is constantly on the look out, as they were receiving threats up to yesterday morning that the gunmen will be returning. Lawson, Carridice and Johnson, who were charged with the murder of 18-year-old Roderick Haye, were acquitted when the jury returned a not guilty verdict as the case ended in the Clarendon Circuit Court on Wednesday.
The murder charge was dropped after the prosecution was unable to determine if the three men were responsible for Haye's death on the morning of June 1, 2001.
