Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter
WHEN 36-YEAR-OLD Claudette Clarke was chased and shot on the compound of the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) on Tuesday night, it was a case of lightning striking at the same place twice.
Two years ago she was shot and wounded by gunmen at the same facility. On Tuesday, however, she wasn't so lucky and lost her life amid a hail of bullets.
Affectionately called 'Cutty Ranks', Miss Clarke was a higgler of Drummond Street in Hannah Town, West Kingston. Reports are that she was chased on to the compound of the KPH by two men with handguns. They pumped several bullets into her body, then left her to die.
NEAR POLICE POST
The shooting occurred in close proximity to the police post at the hospital, and in front of several private security guards contracted to the health facility. According to the police, the shooting occurred at about 9:05 p.m.
There are also reports that her teenage son was shot and injured by gunmen about three weeks ago. That shooting took place in the Hannah Town community.
Reports, in relation to Tuesday night's shooting, are that Miss Clarke might have been killed because of her connection to persons in-volved in an internal gang feud in the Hannah Town community.
Despite the security system in place at the KPH, gunmen over the years have had easy access to the hospital, while prisoners who have been hospitalised there often find it easy to escape.
PAST INCIDENTS
Among the incidents occurring at the hospital are the October 2000 shooting in which gunmen invaded the institution and snatched Anthony Mark Morant, who at the time was on the United States most wanted list. During that incident a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldier was shot and injured and his SLR gun stolen.
In November 2001, gunmen again invaded the hospital and killed three persons, including a district constable, a patient named Bunny Lee and his sister Natalie Lee, who was visiting at the time.
In April 1994 Howard Brady, who was a patient on Seacole Ward, was killed by two men and a woman, who went to visit him. He was stabbed several times and his throat slashed.
Prior to this, a number of prisoners escaped from that facility, showing up the poor state of security at the major hospital.
