MAY PEN, Clarendon:
A 41-YEAR-OLD businessman was shot dead by gunmen at his home in May Pen, Clarendon on Monday.
According to information from the police, Patrick Clarke of Three Eve Terrace, May Pen, was with family members, outside his house when three men with handguns approached him and opened fire. He took gunshots to the right side, right arm pit, both shoulders and in the abdomen. His licensed Heckler and Koch 9mm pistol, serial number 27-024453 and a magazine with 15 rounds were taken, along with an undetermined sum of money.
When The Gleaner visited the home, family and friends were sitting in the front yard, discussing the tragedy.
Henry Clarke, Patrick's brother, said the death could not have come at a worse time, as the family has just buried a sister on the same day. "Everybody is in a state of shock. It's very very hard. I have not eaten, drunk, or done anything. My life is on hold".
"We were here, a lot of us, about 9.45 p.m., talking to a friend on the phone in Canada when a guy walked up from outside and said to my brother, "#@$@#...'A yuh mi come fah', and fired about four shots," Mr. Clarke said.
He said that Patrick had had a good relationship with the people of the community, but said he knew "of issues" he may have had in the United States. This. he speculated, might have been the cause of Patrick's death.
He said his brother who was a fashion designer and owned a 'contract business', arrived in the island on Friday, December 27 to attend his sister's funeral. She was buried the same day he was shot. He has left behind seven children, the eldest 24 years old, and the youngest two years old, a wife and 11 sibblings.
"I have never had anybody so close to me being killed this way by the gun, so it's very shocking and very hard," Joy, a sister, sobbed.
Patrick Clarke was pronounced dead at the May Pen Hospital. The police say six .380 calibre cartridge casings and a bullet fragment was found at the scene. The May Pen CIB is investigating.
