By Glenroy Sinclair, Staff ReporterSIMONE LEVY is grieving again. Her life has been engulfed by tragedy since Election Day October last year when her father and six other relatives were killed in an early morning shooting attack at their home.
Last week her brother barely survived after he was stabbed nine times. Yesterday morning the grief rose afresh when her cousin, 19-year-old Tyrone Taylor, was shot and killed by gunmen in Rock Hall square, St. Andrew.
"I cannot take this anymore. They have now killed eight of my family, innocently. Right now I don't know if it is me next," said an emotional Miss Levy.
Acting Deputy Superinten-dent of police in charge of crime for St. Andrew North, Mevral Smith, said yesterday's shooting is linked to a year-old feud between rival gangs of Carr Hill and Burkewood in Rock Hall.
There are reports that
criminals have taken over the square, extorting a sum of $2,000 per day from businessmen. Residents said persons operating small businesses in the area have been approached and asked to pay extortion fee.
Reports are that the conflict is centred around the theft of a gun. There are allegations that on February 3 last year, when Derrick Robinson was shot and killed in the area, fingers were pointed in the direction of the Burkewood gang as those responsible for his death and the theft of a gun.
This has created tension between opposing factions. As the tension heightened yesterday, shops, as well as the district's postal agency and other businesses in the small town quickly drew down their shutters. By 11:30 a.m. commercial activity in the usually busy Rock Hall square grounded to a halt.
The death of Taylor, who was epileptic, prompted teachers to suspend classes at the Rock Hall All-Age School. Fearful parents rushed to the school and took away their children, while other students raced to the bus stop to get transportation home.
Taylor's mother, 36-year-old Pearline Burke, said the deceased was the eldest of her five children and she believes the tension will continue to mount as it draws closer to the October 16 memorial of the seven persons killed that day last year.
Dead since the feud began are family members Jacqueline Baugh, 21; Joel Baugh, 15; and their mother Angella Davis, 37, of Sandy Ground; Jonathan Levy, 65, and his son-in-law Chani Lee, 24, and 22-year-old daughter Tassia Lee, they were shot dead at their homes.
On September 16 of last year, Damion Davis was shot and killed in the Rock Hall area. Last Thursday Taylor's cousin, 35-year-old Raymond Carr, was attacked at a shop in the square and stabbed nine times.
