Devon Evans, Gleaner WriterOCHO RIOS, St. Ann: ONE MAN was stabbed to death, another admitted in hospital in a serious condition, while a third man is nursing a gunshot wound following a series of incidents in Steer Town and the adjoining Mammee
Bay community in St. Ann on Wednesday.
The events, which began with the fatal stabbing, led some residents to block the Drax Hall main road bringing traffic to a halt for almost an hour, to the inconvenience of local and foreign commuters.
The dead man has been identified as 19-year-old Hosain Wynter of a Steer Town address in the parish. Wynter was stabbed in the chest at about 10:00 a.m. Wednesday by a man with whom he reportedly had a dispute over a cellular phone.
The incident took place in Steer Town in a community known as Hollywood and by the time residents were able to
take him to the St. Ann's Bay Hospital approximately six miles away, he was already dead.
NOT A VIOLENT PERSON
Wynter's younger brother Wade, told The Gleaner that he could not give any account of the killing because he was at school at Moneague College when he heard the news. He said however, that his brother was not a violent person.
Constabulary Communication Network liaison officer Stacey Hawkins reported that after the stabbing, the alleged perpetrator fled the area and was chased by a crowd of residents who caught up with him in the Mammee Bay area. By the time the police arrived on the scene, the man had been severely beaten and chopped by the mob.
The police said they were forced to fire several shots in the air to ward off the crowd which was advancing on them with machetes, stones and other missiles, demanding the return of the accused killer. Stones and other missiles were hurled on the lawmen as they removed the man.
SHOT IN THE LEG
It was during this incident that a taxi operator identified as John Smith, said he was shot in the leg and a policeman was reportedly injured by rocks. A police service vehicle was also said to have been damaged as the lawmen were forced to flee the scene.
But the matter was still far from over as some residents, after attempting to block the road at Mammee Bay, went to the Drax Hall roundabout. There they used stones and other debris to block the flow of traffic from Steer Town, St. Ann's Bay and Ocho Rios, while a few police men looked on and visitors in tour buses took photographs.
Shortly before 1 p.m., police sergeant Henry of the St. Ann's Bay station arrived on the scene with a squad of policemen and was able to disperse the crowd of protesters and get the traffic flowing. The road was finally cleared some minutes later after superintendent of police in charge of St. Ann, Ray Palmer, spoke with the protesters assuring them that the matter will be thoroughly investigated.
