(Jamaica Observer) – Three men were shot dead as police and soldiers engaged in a stand-off with gunmen in the volatile Mountain View community in Kingston on Sunsay.
The dead men were unidentified up to press time, but the police confirmed that two of them died at their hands.
The gunfire forced the officers to prohibit vehicular traffic on sections of Mountain View Avenue for hours, as they swarmed the area in search of wanted men.
The cops said that the incident started shortly after 11 am when they came under fire while processing a murder scene on Bygrave Avenue in the community.
They said that men on a motorcycle opened fire at them before speeding off.
“While processing the crime scene, two men rode up on a motorcycle and opened fire at the lawmen.
The fire was returned and both men were shot. They were taken to hospital where they died,” said Sergeant Cheree Grieves of the Constabulary Communication Network – the police information arm.
A .45 semi-automatic pistol was allegedly taken from the men’s possession. Their damaged motorcycle was taken to the Elletson Road Police Station for processing.
Police were tight-lipped as to what might have led to the murder on Bygrave Avenue but according to Grieves, “reports are that men from a section of the community called ‘Back Bush’ and others from ‘Top Mountain View’ had some falling out.”
That man’s body was found with multiple gunshot wounds on the roadway.
It was not clear if the dead man was involved in the rivalry, and police could not say which section of the community the motorcycle riders were from.
The incident transformed Mountain View Avenue into a ghost town yesterday.
At one end – nearest to the Mountain View Police Station – the cops used barricades to cordon across the road. While at the other, residents braved heavy rainfall to throw old drums, a wheel barrow and other debris into the road.
They claimed that the blockade, mounted in the vicinity of Chavez Avenue, was to prevent access to the community by their attackers.
“Is pure gunshot firing down there, pure man a dead from morning. Police a kill man and gunman a kill man, don’t go down there,” a female resident bellowed at a driver who tried to go around the roadblock.
“We cannot afford any gunmen to come in here and kill off we children them so we have to block the road to keep them out,” added a male resident.
