Three men killed in daring MoBay attack
Published:Thursday | October 7, 2021 | 12:12 AMHopeton Bucknor/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Three men were shot dead and and three other persons, including two bystanders, injured as gunmen travelling in a Toyota Corolla motor car opened heavy gunfire on the occupants of a Toyota Mark X as both vehicles sped through the streets of downtown Montego Bay in St James shortly after 2 p.m. yesterday.
According to reports, scores of pedestrians and commuters who abandoned their vehicles were sent scampering as four men and a woman aboard the Toyota Mark X tried to evade the gunmen, who were seen firing high-powered rifles during the chase.
Eyewitnesses told The Gleaner that the first shots were fired in the vicinity of Clock Towers along Upper Barnett Street, where the two bystanders were shot as the cars sped by.
Both cars turned on McCatty Street, where the driver of the Mark X lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a taxi, which sent both cars slamming into a wall.
The car with the gunmen, which was close behind, pulled up alongside the crashed vehicle and several men alighted with rifles, opening fire on the Mark X. They then got back into their vehicle and sped away.
All four men in the Mark X suffered gunshot wounds while the woman emerged unhurt. Three of the injured men were pronounced dead at hospital.
Exclaiming that it was the most gunshots he had ever heard, one eyewitness said that at first, he thought the sounds were coming from a motor bike.
The eyewitness, who said he was among others sitting outside a shop, told The Gleaner that they jumped behind a wall as the cars sped in their direction and shots rang out.
“It was like a movie wi a watch,” he said, adding that they were surprised to see the blood-covered female occupant emerge unhurt from the ill-fated car.
A senior police officer at the location told The Gleaner that although they had received some names, the identities of the men were still not confirmed up to late yesterday.
“We still have not yet gotten a motive for this latest shooting, and as you can see, we are still in the early stages of the investigation,” the cop added.
One hundred and ten persons have been murdered in St James since the start of the year, making it the bloodiest police division in rural Jamaica.