Gunplay in ‘Vietnam’

At least one man was injured at 2nd Avenue, Thomas Gap, President Kennedy Drive, St Michael when a gunman disrupted a quiet Wednesday afternoon with a hail of bullets.

Police say they received the report around 1:10 p.m. and one man was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) by private vehicle, while investigations are continuing into whether another man was also injured during the incident.

One resident, who spoke to the media but declined to give her name, said she was visiting her daughter and two grandchildren when gunshots shattered the peace.

“I hear these shots, shots up in the gap, then I tek off, put the little children in my daughter’s house and ran coming down, and when I get down, a car was reversing coming out and the body telling me ‘go back, go back, go back’, and when I turn in, another car pass me and went long up the gap,” she recounted.

“I thought it was my son. I saw a fellow lying on the ground. My nephew was shot in his thigh and he tell me ‘Aunty, Aunty, I get hit’.”

The resident expressed dismay at the spike in gun crime in the country.

“Gun violence real rapid…. Yuh don’t know if you are going to live today or tomorrow when you walk the road, that is how life is. But if you live by the gun, you will die by the gun,” she warned.

Another frustrated neighbour called for an end to the violence, as he expressed anger that the senseless shooting could have resulted in worse tragedy.

“This is outrageous, totally outrageous, because we got children running about this neighbourhood…. It it is one of the most peaceful neighbourhoods when you look at it, but you see this here, it isn’t good enough,” he lamented.

“Right now the [Crop Over] season coming in and people want to spend money and enjoy themselves. How you could do this here, how you could do this here In a community like this so small? It ain’t no wall houses about here…. Shots can go through board and hurt people.

“I got a son that wounded all now and … sometimes the house so hot that he comes out and breeze out at the shop next door. Fortunately for he, he went and get dressing this morning and we now come up and couldn’t even get in the neighbourhood. This isn’t good enough, it happening all around… So law enforcement, please step up and do wunna duty like normal but put more enforcement on it,” the resident urged.

Police are continuing investigations. (SD)