5-y-o among two killed in funeral drive-by

A FIVE-YEAR-OLD boy was shot and killed and his father wounded during a drive-by attack at a funeral held in John’s Hall, St James, on Sunday.

Another man was also shot and killed in the incident.

Dead are five-year-old Tavoy Cummings and a 24-year-old man known only as ‘Isis’, both of Church Lincoln in Grange Hill, Westmoreland.

Investigators confirmed that the child’s father was still hospitalised in critical condition up to press time. The boy’s mother, who was also in the vehicle, escaped unhurt.

Reports are that shortly after 3 p.m., the family was about to leave the funeral, which was being held at John’s Hall Seventh-day Adventist Church, for Tomani Walters, who died in Grange Hill, Westmoreland, on September 20.

They were boarding a white Toyota Axio motor car in which they had travelled to the funeral when men travelling aboard a motor car drove up and opened fire at them.

Tavoy, who was allegedly in his dad’s arms; his father; and ‘Isis’ were hit.

They were rushed to hospital where Tavoy and Isis were pronounced dead and the boy’s father admitted in critical condition.

This is the second St James shooting incident in five days in which a child has been shot by gunmen while in his father’s arms.

Prior to the Johns Hall shooting, a ninemonth-old girl was shot and injured and her father killed in Hendon, Norwood, last Wednesday.

Sunday’s double murder has increased murders in St James to 187 this year.

Up to November 16, Jamaica recorded 1,363 murders, a 5.9 per cent increase on the 1,287 registered for the corresponding period in 2021.