STRONG POLICE PRESENCE IN ALLSIDES AFTER DEADLY SHOOTING
ALLSIDES, Trelawny — Up to late yesterday the police were maintaining a strong presence at a property which houses a residence and business establishment in Allsides, where the owner allegedly went amok and sprayed his friend with bullets, killing him instantly Sunday afternoon.
The dead man has been identified as 27-year-old hotel worker Kimorley Forbes of Allsides in Trelawny.
The police reported that about 5:30 pm on Sunday, Forbes was among friends, including the suspect, having a drink when it is alleged that the suspect pulled his licensed Glock 19 pistol and peppered him with bullets, after shoving him in the face.
The police were summoned and upon their arrival Forbes was found lying in a pool of blood while the suspect sat in the living room.
The police subsequently took him into custody after seizing his firearm.
Yesterday, irate residents, who threatened to torch the suspect’s premises, were kept at bay by a strong detachment of police.
When the Jamaica Observer visited the community, a grief-stricken Dalton Forbes, father of the deceased, was still trying to come to grips with the killing of his son.
The father, who operates a grocery shop a short distance from the suspect’s business place, recounted that he heard the gunshots but never thought that his son was the target.
“Yesterday [Sunday], the businessman invited my son to his place to have a drink. They were there drinking and in the evening I heard explosions, after which two of my nephews told me that my son got shot,” related the heartbroken father.
“The two of them are good friends, they are together every day. He [suspect] takes goods from me to supply his business up there. Mi not expecting that from him. They were there drinking... I don’t know if he overdrink or anything. I heard he started pushing off the youth face and when him push off the youth face now he took out his gun and pointed it on one of my nephews, then he turned it on my son and start shoot him,” the father said.
Residents, too, expressed shock and disappointment over the death of the hotel worker.
“They were good friends and them live good. Them eat, them drink, them do everything together. I don’t know what happened,” one woman told the Observer.
A man, who gave his name only as Ganga, concurred.
“All now mi surprise when mi hear say a him kill the youth. All now mi can’t believe. Because you see the youth father and him [the suspect] move close. The whole of us move together, so all now it shock mi. All now mi don’t know what happened,” he stated.
He pointed out that the accused was also well-respected in the community.
“The man who killed the youth… the people them love him because him do good for the youths them around here, so all now mi can’t believe,” Ganga shared.
Another resident said that the business establishment provides employment for over 25 individuals in the community.
“He employed about 25 to 30 people, mostly women. A big help. He also buys peppers and ram goats from the farmers in the area. A bad mash-down for the community now; we lose the factory now. Many little things going cut down now,” he wailed.
Another man chimed in: “The little people who were working out of a job now. It don’t pretty; it is not an easy road. Mi never know say things could go so. That gentleman a good help. Good, good help. It too hot.”