Massiah Street gun attack wounds man, 44

The droplets of blood on the grey steps of the Golden Shotts Bar in Massiah Street are the lingering tell-tale signs that the tranquillity of this St John community was disrupted by the latest spurt of gun violence.

The gunfire left a 44-year-old man, whose name has not been disclosed, nursing injuries.

Around 8:15 a.m, as shopkeeper Claudette Alleyne was preparing for another day of business, the sound of a hail of gunfire stopped her in her tracks.

“I came out here earlier this morning to have my car fixed. “Alleyne said. “The mechanic had just finished when I came inside. My son and my son’s girlfriend, we hear the noise.

“We heard about 10 shots and after it could be about 10/15 minutes, somebody came and said ‘red woman, you have a trail of blood out here’ and I said where?. When I came out I saw the blood.

“There were some people telling me to wash it off and I said I wasn’t going to tamper with it and I told my son to call the police which he did.”

Police from District “C” station located about five minutes away arrived within 30 minutes and discovered a gunshot victim who was later taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital via ambulance.

According to police, the victim was walking through a track when he was approached by two armed men who fired at him. The assailants ran from the scene.

Alleyne who moved to the area for just over a year now said this was the first time such an event had occurred in the community

“Usually, you would have the boys hanging out and talking, doing things that guys do but never this [shooting],” she said.

“I have a business to run, so I stay calm. Usually, when something happens I don’t react [at] the same time, I feel I would freak out, I try to stay calm.”

In recent weeks, there have been several shooting incidents, with increasingly brazen attacks and execution-style slayings. So far eight people have died by the gun this year, among them Police Station Sargeant Newton Lewis who was gunned down on May 23 at Rose Hill, St Peter as he responded to a report of an armed robbery in progress. (SD)