Left: Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields (left) listens keenly to St. James Superintendent Warren Clarke at the scene of a gruesome triple murder in Norwood, St. James, yesterday. Six persons were killed in the community in 24 hours. Right: Police tour sections of Norwood after multiple murders in the community yesterday. - PHOTOS BY MONIQUE HEPBURN
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE COMMUNITY of Norwood, St. James, was yesterday rocked by hellish terror as armed thugs went on a bloody rampage killing five persons.
In what were believed to be reprisal killings, the victims, 43-year-old Patrick Anderson; 29-year-old Natalie Ferguson; 57-year-old Linda Malcolm; her common-law husband, 62-year-old Michael Montaque; and their 20-year-old son Michael Jr. were shot and then set ablaze in two separate attacks.
DOOR KICKED OPEN
Reports are that the first set of killings started about 3:00 a.m. in a section of the community known as Gulf, where gunmen kicked open Anderson's door. He ran outside and was shot four times. His house was set ablaze.
They then went next door where they forced their way into Ferguson's house. She was also fatally shot; her five-year-old son was unharmed. The boy, with 'I am helping my mommy today' emblazoned on his shirt, was taken from the house by a Madden's funeral home employee to whom he clung.
About 3:40 a.m., Malcolm and the Montaques were attacked by armed men before their house was set on fire.
When The Gleaner news team visited the community, scores of shocked residents converged on the scene of the triple murder, stunned into silence.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Keith 'Trinity' Gardener told The Gleaner that no motive had been determined but the police had in fact identified four suspects.
"We are looking at four suspects. They are not in our custody and they are from the community," the ACP said. "We are resolved in the fight to restore order in the area but what we need most is intelligence from citizens. That is most critical for our operations to be successful."
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one distraught resident reiterated the call for joint military-police operations in the community, as she fears that the police alone are unable to protect them.
"Dem need fi get soldier over here; five people one time! They waiting until more people dead before they do something," she cried
However, residents will have to wait indefinitely before seeing any sustained military presence there as Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields told journalists during a tour of the area yesterday afternoon that Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) personnel are otherwise engaged.
JDF PREOCCUPIED
"We always consider cooperation with the military; it is an option that is open to us," DCP Shields said. "But the fact is that the JDF is fully deployed at the moment; there are no spare battalions of soldiers sitting in the barracks."
He said the JDF personnel had either been deployed in specific hot spots or were working with the police on search and day-to-day operations.
DCP Shields has called for increased levels of support from residents to help the police in restoring law and order to their community.
Since April, Norwood, which is one of 19 squatter communities in St. James, has been rocked by a number of vicious killings, many of which have been attributed to the Stone Crushers Gang in the area.
The police have reported that a man had also been killed in the community in an unrelated incident on Monday.
Eighty-two persons have been murdered in the parish since the start of the year.
