Eleven Miles residents flee after lockdown murders
DESPITE IT being a no-movement day due to the pandemic, a number of residents packed up and made hasty retreats from of a section of Eleven Miles in Bull Bay, St Thomas, out of fear of reprisal shootings after two murders in the area early Sunday morning.
Fifty-seven-year-old welder Joseph Peterkin was shot and killed at his house about 4 a.m., reportedly by a group of men with high-powered weapons.
The other victim, 26-year-old music selector André White, otherwise known as ‘Country’, was also gunned down at the home of a woman, reportedly by the same gunmen.
Yesterday Peterkin’s co-workers were visibly shaken by his death as they described him as a peace-loving person who worked hard at the Bull Bay-based company to support his three children, one of whom lived with him.
“I know Peterkin from 1983. To me, he is a very close friend – almost family – mi rate him like that,” one colleague reflected yesterday. “When I came to work this morning and didn’t see him and know he wasn’t coming, tears full my eyes.”
Said another: “Joseph wasn’t a man of war. He was a peaceful man, one of the best fathers I know. Him try to let his children have everything, including education. He was about his animals, him children and him job.”
The remaining residents along a dirt track leading to Peterkin’s house were too scared to speak with The Gleaner as fear and tension gripped the community.
“Word on the street is that the gunmen killed Peterkin because they were unable to get to a male member of his family,” one resident, however, whispered.
An associate of White told our news team that he simply got involved with the wrong crowd.
Yesterday, the St Thomas police were seen maintaining a strong presence in the area.
Deputy superintendent in charge of operations, Oniel Thompson, told The Gleaner that they have been aware of the tension existing in the area for some time now and were doing everything to allay the fears of the residents.
“The shootings are gang-related and the police are doing everything to bring peace to the community. We have the intelligence and we are acting on it,” said Thompson.