Good Samaritans die with gunshot victim in crash

Two good Samaritans who were assisting a gunshot victim to the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital in Westmoreland on Wednesday night died from injuries they sustained in a motor vehicle collision along the Haddo main road in Westmoreland.

The deceased have been identified as 16-year-old student Brianna Smith and 29-year-old Vanessa Spence, telephone operator of Golden Grove district in Mt Peto, Hanover.

The gunshot victim, 26-year-old Aljay Ricketts, also of Golden Grove, sustained further injuries in the crash and succumbed at hospital.

Reports are that about 11:30 p.m., Smith, Spence, and Ricketts were among patrons at an illegal party being held in the community when Ricketts was approached by two men, one of whom brandished a handgun and opened fire, hitting him several times.

Smith, Spence, and two close friends were assisted by patrons at the party to place him in the back seat of a Toyota Corolla Axio motor car before they headed to the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital.

On reaching a section of the Haddo main road, Spence was reportedly in the process of overtaking when she collided head-on into a Ford motor truck owned by the National Water Commission and driven by 43-year-old Michael Smith, of Cambridge, St James.

All five persons in the motor car, including the gunshot victim, sustained injuries.

A 21-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man were also admitted to hospital in serious but stable condition.

This is the third fatal crash in the parish of Westmoreland this week.

Simone Horton, a 36-year-old babysitter of Lucea, Hanover, died in a motor vehicle crash in Rose Heights, St James, on Sunday.

And 52-year-old Linton Stevens, farmer of Berkshire district in Westmoreland, lost his life in another crash, also on Sunday.

Since the start of the year, a total of 18 persons have been killed in 15 road accidents across western Jamaica. There were 21 fatalities from 19 road crashes for the corresponding period in 2021.

Hanover is the only western parish that has not recorded a fatal accident since January 1.