Two killed as guns bark in St James

Two persons were murdered in St James over last weekend. St James has been under a state of emergency since January.

Those killed have been identified as 22-year-old Raheem Brown, an unemployed resident of Granville, and Errol Bygrave, a 56-year-old labourer, of Lilliput.

In the first incident, which occurred shortly after 8 a.m., on Sunday, residents in the Gordon Crescent section of Granville summoned the police after hearing a barrage of gunshots in the area. On the arrival of the police, they stumbled upon Brown’s body along the road. His body was subsequently taken to a morgue.

“It is sad that despite the various initiatives we have in place, people are still being killed in this parish,” a senior policeman said yesterday. “We just have to keep plugging away while hoping for the best.”

In the second shooting incident, which occurred just minutes after the incident in Granville, residents of Ocean Heights, in Lilliput, heard shots being fired and alerted the Barrett Town police. On the arrival of the police, Bygrave was found along a section of the roadway with multiple gunshot wounds.

Bygrave was transported to the Falmouth Hospital, in Trelawny, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Since the start of the year, 49 persons have been murdered in the parish.