Violence continues to rock Rockfort
THE volatile East Kingston community of Rockfort remained tense yesterday in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of two men during a joint police/military operation, and the seizure earlier in the week of three high-powered assault rifles.
The community has been rocked by violence since last week, and already four have been killed in gunfights between rival gangs, while eight others, including four women, have been shot and injured.
“Two of the big men in the area are at loggerheads and the result has been all out war,” said an officer from the Kingston East Police Division, who asked not to be named.
The community of Rockfort has traditionally aligned itself to the ruling People’s National Party.
Member of Parliament Phillip Paulwell has, however, dismissed claims that the violence was politically motivated, saying that it involved sheer criminality.
“Persons are trying to dissuade a witness from testifying in a murder. They are doing so by spreading fear. But witnesses must be properly protected and the law must take its course,” Paulwell told the Observer.
The guns last barked on Saturday night when six persons were shot and injured during a drive-by gun attack at the intersection of Windward and Warieka roads. Two of the injured men were hospitalised, while the other four were treated and sent home.
There have also been reports of nightly gunfire in the violence-prone community.
Yesterday, the few residents who ventured from their homes appeared on edge.
“This is a nervous, tense man; is a chance we a take and come out yah,” an elderly man said as the Observer drove along D’Aguilar Road.
Around him were six younger adults, mostly women and a child. None said a word as they peered up and down the street.
Other roads were blocked with various forms of debris, restricting vehicular movement.
At Warieka Road, a young man stood nervously at an intersection and peered into a vehicle as it drove by. His left hand never left his front jeans pocket as he glared at the marked media vehicle menacingly.
Head of the Kingston East police, Superintendent Assan Thompson, said the police would be pulling out all the stops to bring an end to the violence which has plagued the community for over a year.