Kids escape harm in drive-by attack
Published:Tuesday | May 3, 2022 | 12:10 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
A father is thankful his son and other children were spared the wrath of gunmen travelling in an SUV before going on a shooting rampage on Fitzgerald Avenue in St Andrew Sunday night.
Reports are that one man was shot and injured about 9:30 p.m. when a Mitsubishi Pajero drove up with guns blazing from both the driver and passenger side of the vehicle.
He was treated at the Kingston Public Hospital and released.
The Gleaner understands that about 20 shots were fired in the direction of the injured man, women and children who were seated under a shopfront sheltering from the rain.
The Maxfield Avenue community is now on edge.
“Is a good thing him nuh get hurt. Him get a little cut on his hand and him shake up,” the father said of his child.
“A bare pickney deh there so and them come up and fire bare shot.”
Bullet holes were visible on the walls of the shop at the corner of Fitzgerald Avenue and Water Street and other walls in proximity.
The residents say it was the rainy weather that caused the streets to be emptier than usual Sunday night, citing that the outcome could have been worse had more people gathered.
“Nobody nah look fi gunman come shoot up place inna Pajero, well rims up. If it was a Probox or Axio, then di man dem would a say a which car this? A jus gun through window and pure shot,” a female resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
Those Toyota motor cars have been profiled as the vehicles of choice for some criminals.
As at May 26, shooting reports nationally declined 11 per cent year-on-year.
There have been 367 shootings this year compared to 411 for the corresponding period in 2021.
Meanwhile, 463 persons have been killed since January 1.
That represents a one per cent increase, year-on-year, when compared to the 458 killed during the similar period under review in 2021.
Reports of other major crimes such as rape and robbery have declined.