WESTERN BUREAU:

Gunmen went on a rampage in the impoverished Fuller community in Granville, St James, yesterday morning, killing one man, injuring a little girl and setting two houses on fire.

The dead man has been identified as 29-year-old security guard Kern Simpson, who was employed to Rapid Security.

The injured girl, aged seven, is now nursing gunshot wounds in hospital.

"It is coming from long-standing differences between men from Gut Bottom and Fuller over the lottery scam ... it also has to do with reprisal," head of the St James Police Division, Superintendent Steve McGregor, told The Gleaner.

Reports are that shortly after 3 a.m., armed men forced their way into Simpson's house, where they shot and killed him. His killers then torched his wooden dwelling.

Next door

The gunmen took their mayhem next door where they tried to kick open the door to that residence. After unsuccessful attempts, it is said that the men fired several shots through the entrance way.

They also went to the rear of the house where they opened fire, shattering windows and a rear door, injuring the little girl.

The armed thugs then went to a third house in the community where they fired on the building - also made of wood - and set fire to it. Both houses were completely gutted and Simpson's charred remains were subsequently removed from the rubble.

A total of 147 homicides have been recorded in St James since January.