- NORMAN GRINDLEY/Staff Photographer
Andrew 'Bunman' Hope (left), reputed area leader of Ellerslie Pen in Spanish Town, St. Catherine, being escorted out of the community by Detective Divisional Inspector Derrick Champagnie of the Spanish Town Police Station yesterday. Hope was taken in for questioning in connection with the ongoing gang feud in the Old Capital, but was later released.
Glenroy Sinclair and Rasbert Turner, Gleaner Reporters
SECTIONS OF Spanish Town, St. Catherine, were shut down tight last night, as heavily armed police descended on the Old Capital to prevent another round of gang-related violence.
The police also confirmed yesterday that one man whose identity has not been released, has been arrested in connection with Sunday's multiple killing in the Ellerslie Pen community.
Andrew Hope, alias 'Bun-man', the alleged leader of the One Order Gang, was taken into custody yesterday afternoon, but according to the police, Hope and members of the rival gang had a brief meeting with a view to end the bloodletting.
CURFEW
Last night scores of police personnel drawm from Area Five, Mobile Reserve, Flying Squad and Area Four, imposed a curfew in Tawes and Ellerslie pens east along 'Train Line', south-west along Canal Bank, and north along Old Harbour Road.
"We are manning all the crossovers or borderlines," said acting Deputy Superintendent Meveral Smith, crime officer for St. Andrew North.
Since the upsurge of gang violence in the area three weeks ago, at least six persons have been murdered and more than a dozen shot and injured. Meanwhile, several families have moved out, fearing for their lives. Last Thursday, one woman and 17 other members of her family had to be escorted out of Tawes Pen.
Irate residents of Ellerslie Pen took to the streets yesterday, protesting against the spate of killing and shooting in the war-torn community.
Allegations are that the split in the One Order Gang began after orders came from a soon-to-be-released and influential prison inmate, that one of the 'elder statesmen' in the gang should be killed before he is released.
As a result, factions from Tawes Pen and Ellerslie Pen began shooting at each other. Things escalated on Sunday when nine persons were shot, three fatally, following an attack in Ellerslie Pen by gunmen. Residents claimed the gunmen were attired in police uniform, a matter which is now being probed by the Bureau of Special Investigation (BSI).
BALLISTICS TESTING
Contacted yesterday, head of the BSI, acting Assistant Commis-sioner Granville Gause, said a number of statements have already been collected and the firearms of several policemen sent to the forensic laboratory for ballistics testing.
In the meantime, Spanish Town Mayor, Dr. Raymoth Notice, blamed what he described as the ill-fated police intelligence network in the Old Capital for the upsurge in violence.
