Mom marked for death
Woman slain in double murder two months after son killed
Published:Friday | December 6, 2024 | 6:18 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
A mother who reportedly witnessed her son’s murder along Barbican Road in St Andrew some two months ago was the target of a deadly attack that claimed her life along with a man at the same location yesterday.
Ashley Makerre, who reportedly knew she was marked for death, was one of three people who were shot around 1 p.m. yesterday by men travelling on a motorcycle.
Investigators theorise that yesterday’s double shooting and murder was an act of reprisal at play because of another murder that occurred in the St Andrew South Police Division at a school last month.
The Gleaner reported then that 36-year-old Deshawn Newry, a taxi operator of a Barbican Road address, was killed on November 15 when he dropped off a child at the entrance of Rousseau Primary School on Ricketts Avenue.
“She (Makerre) was very vocal about her son’s killing, hit out at the killers and then the murder at the school took place ... . The deceased in that incident has ties to the community, and so she know she was under the microscope. She was reluctant to leave the space, saying it was her community and she won’t leave and always hung out there,” a senior investigator with knowledge of the probe told The Gleaner.
Makerre’s son is, reportedly, to be buried on Sunday.
A man listed this week in the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) ‘Wanted Wednesday’ campaign is being sought for the murder of her son.
He is Demar ‘Bully Beef’ Grinham, who is said to frequent Barbican Road.
The man killed in yesterday’s fatal shooting, has been identified as Tresor Rookwood of a Kintyre, Papine addres, who was said to be a customer.
The area where the double murder occurred is known as Andrews Pen.
That community has been impacted by gang violence for years, and a makeshift police post was set up at the entrance.
“I did three years there on static duty there. That blue shop, we had to be there 24/7. It was our unofficial post. Hurricane, sun, earthquake, anything at all, we had to be in it to quell gang violence,” a policeman told The Gleaner.
The Gleaner understands that enhanced security measures are expected to be deployed to the area to curtail any further fallout.
The St Andrew North Police Division has recorded a nine per cent increase in murders and three per cent increase in shootings year on year as at November 30.
Meanwhile, Makerre’s murder follows a string of homicides in Jamaica involving female victims during the 16-day observance of awareness of violence against women and highlighting the importance of efforts to prevent such violence.
The United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is observed annually across the globe, beginning on November 25.
The last five years saw crime-scene investigators probing murders of 619 women as Jamaica averaged 124 such homicides each year from 2019 to 2023, according to data published by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica.