A tree that hangs over the fence of the Hunts Bay Police station provides shade from the searing heat of the sun. A vendor's stall stores the suitcases and bags -- travel, tote and plastic -- with their clothes and important documents.

This is home for members of one family who have been chased out of Majesty Gardens, the St Andrew South Western community they have called home since they were born.

The family, three generations of relatives formed by eight sisters, three brothers, their children and grandchildren, were told by men in their community last Monday evening that if they didn't leave by 8:00 pm, they would be killed.

"Cash Pot did just play," said one woman, placing the time the warning was issued at 7:35 pm.

Fearing the worst, they grabbed their children, stuffed some clothes into whatever bags they could find, and fled to the outer walls of the police station on Marcus Garvey Drive. That's where they spent the night -- even the pregnant and recently delivered mothers among them, sleeping on the ground.

"Ah cardboard we spread and sleep, and when rain start fall ah under di truck we put di baby dem so dem wouldn't get wet," one of the sisters told the Sunday Observer.

And as if being thrown out of your house and sleeping in the streets isn't enough, when some of the residents ventured home in the morning they found their houses ransacked, furniture and appliances gone.

Beds, television sets, DVD players, fans, irons, fridges, stoves, microwave ovens, gone.

"Down to wi common spoon and fork dem take. Down to wi common pickney dem shoes," one of the sisters, Carol, brooded.

The residents said they believe their belongings are still in the community but say the police are not helping them to recover the items.

"Time hard now fi go buy back a fridge and a TV. We need fi find back wi tings dem," Carol added.

None of the sisters are employed. They depend on their male partners or do part-time vending in the capital's downtown commercial district.

"The police nah assist wi," another of the sisters complained. "Dem ah hurry wi up an ah seh dem don't have an hour to spend."

No one seems to be sure of the reason the families were turned out, but there is a buzz about missing guns.

The community has been involved in a long-standing internal feud related to turf. Smack in the middle stands a pink zinc shack. It represents the border between the "top" -- which has a high-rise housing complex and a basic school -- and the "bottom", where the houses are shacks packed tightly against each other. To exit the community, men from the "bottom", use the exit that leads directly onto Marcus Garvey Drive or the bushes that lead to the Portmore toll road. Those at the "top" use Spanish Town Road.

The fighting has never seemed to stop, abating for a few months only to start all over again. This time, however, it is being fought in one section only, at the "bottom" where the family from "Big Yard" are among its first victims.

But this is not the first time people have had to flee Majesty Gardens. In the latter part of last year, people left by the dozens, residents say. Some were told by thugs that they had to leave, but many fled voluntarily in a bid to escape the violence and save their lives.

"About 80 or 90 people move out from November to January," one man said. He took us to view several empty and abandoned houses in sections of the small community that tell the tales.

Another man, a middle-aged labourer, said he is building a house in another community and will be moving as soon as it is complete.

"The area nuh right fi me," he said. "If you out at 7 or 8 o'clock at night you can't come in. You have to stay outside... People scared."

"Wi afraid and wi feel threatened," added one woman who lives on the high-rise complex. "From six o'clock ah evening time mi haffi run go inna my house."

What the community needs in order to curb the persistent violence, residents said, is a stronger relationship with the police, one in which the lawmen will meet with residents on a fortnightly or monthly basis. Pastor David Chang who works in the community agreed.

But the police appeared less than sympathetic. They said Majesty Gardens residents have consistently refused to cooperate with them in nabbing criminals in their community, ranked as the poorest in the island by government rating agencies.

A sergeant of police who was part of the search team that went to help the residents Wednesday morning, put it bluntly.

"I'm not sorry for them. When it comes to finding the men who are firing the guns they are not co-operating, but now that it turns sour on their behalf they want assistance from the police," said the cop, who declined to give his name because of organisational policy concerning sharing information with the media.

"They know exactly what is happening but they are just not cooperating. Before now the war was between the top and the bottom of the community. Then, it was fine, but now that it's among people at the bottom they want help," he scoffed.

The sergeant said the "Big Yard" family was refusing to identify the men who have threatened them and that that in itself was an example of the lack of reciprocity thwarting their efforts. He even suggested that the perpetrators may have stolen from others in the past, and gifted people within the community.

"If they can't assist us we can't help them," he emphasised.

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