MERCILESS gunmen about 4:00 yesterday morning went to a tenement yard on Elgin Road in Kingston 5 with one mission. To kill.

The men, armed with high-powered assault rifles as well as handguns, kicked open the front door of a board house occupied by Kadian Johnson, 25, and her younger brother, Henry Johnson, 22, and sprayed them with bullets while they slept.

A friend of Kadian Johnson, one of three persons killed in a house on Elgin Road in St Andrew yesterday, views the bloodied room in which Johnson and her brother were shot to death. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

They then walked a few metres to another board house on the premises where they completed their mission as they pumped bullets in Shaniel Johnson, 23. The armed men then fled the scene.

Kadian's two-month-old baby, who was sheltered from the bullets by his mother, was not wounded. However, he was taken to hospital by family members.

The police said approximately 40 AK-47, M16 and 9mm spent shells were recovered from the murder scene.

Family members, neighbours and friends wept bitterly as they looked at the bodies of the three lying in pools of blood in their humble dwellings.

The mother of Kadian and Henry Johnson, identified only as Doreen, entered the room where her two children were killed singing softly, but broke down and wept bitterly when she saw their blood splashed over the room.

Nearby, Loraine Barnaby, whose son was the last of the three persons murdered, sat under a tree in the ill-fated yard as she reflected on the tragedy.

"Tears is the language God understands; tears is the language God understands," a despondent Doreen sang repeatedly as she navigated the bloodied bed where her two children were killed.

Doreen, who minutes before had assured relatives that she was all right, broke down openly with an ear-splitting wail and had to be hastily escorted from the room by a female friend.

Outside in the yard, Shaniel's mother, Loraine, sat staring into space and unconsciously tapped the side of an old chair she had flung herself onto after hearing of her son's murder.

"He just came from St Ann in June; him don't know about anything that is going on," the woman said, as her older sister comforted her with a gentle pat on the back.

"Him was a quiet, quiet youth, him don't give any trouble. I don't know why them kill my baby so cruel," added the woman, who slowly turned her gaze to a gathering of children who, despite the sombre mood, found the time to joke with each other.

Apart from a male resident, who said he was the first to see the bodies of the siblings, none of the residents who gathered at the entrance to the old yard spoke aloud.

Women, some of whom were clad in morning gowns and flip-flops, whispered in hushed tones with each other, but went silent when reporters approached.

"Nobody don't want to say anything cause nobody don't know who is who or why the man them come kill the people them pickney," one skimpily clad woman said. "Ask the police, them can tell you everything that went on, we don't know."

Yesterday afternoon, Deputy Police Superintendent McArthur Sutherland said homicide investigators were still trying to find the motive behind the murders.

"We are still trying to unravel the motive behind that shooting. That Elgin Road area is not known to give us murders. Places like Torrington Park and surrounding communities have had some conflict in recent times, so at the moment we think that it is that rivalry on the West Kingston (Police Division) border that might have triggered it," Sutherland told the Observer.

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