SEVEN more Jamaicans were shot dead between Tuesday night and midday yesterday, taking the murder toll to 939 since the start of the year.

Five of the killings occurred hours before almost 1,000 children from basic, primary and high schools staged a demonstration at the intersection of Spanish Town Road and East Avenue appealing for an end to the killing of children by gunmen.

Since the start of the year, more than 70 children have been shot dead by criminals, sparking horror and outrage across the country.

“We are Jamaica’s Future”; “Give us a chance to live our lives”, read two of the many placards displayed by the children on the busy road.

The demonstration was organised by Hope for Children Development Company in collaboration with other children’s groups, including Hear the Children’s Cry, Jamaica Coalition on the Rights of the Child, and Children First, a community-based organisation in Spanish Town, St Catherine, where the seven latest murders were committed.

Police named the seven victims as:

* Dennis Brown, 32, alias “Otis”, a tractor driver of McCooks Pen;

* Paul Brown, 26, labourer of McCooks Pen;

* Oneil Shaw, 26, labourer of Featherbed Lane;

* Valentine Swaby, 31, of Featherbed Lane;

* Rohan Nesbeth, 32, chef of Windsor Heights, Central Village; and

* twin brothers Dwayne and Dwight Rodriques, 28, of Young Street, Spanish Town.

Dennis and Paul Brown, Shaw and Swaby were among approximately 20 men watching a movie on cable television inside the Gold Star Lawn beer joint at 78 1/2 Old Harbour Road, Spanish Town when two men, one with a shotgun, the other with a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, entered through the back gate at about 9:00 pm Tuesday.

Police say the gunmen, one wearing a mask, ordered the patrons not to move, then opened fire on them.

In addition to the four men killed, four others were injured and taken to hospital where they were admitted.

Police say they picked up 10 spent shells at the scene.

Approximately 15 minutes later, Nesbeth was slain in Central Village. Residents said they heard explosions and called the cops who found his body with gunshot wounds to the head.

The Rodriques twins were shot dead at about 11:30 am yesterday as they rode separate bicycles along the busy Oxford Street in Spanish Town.

Police say a volley of gunshots was heard and, upon investigation, the bullet-riddled bodies of the twin brothers were found sprawled in the street.

Sixteen 9mm and .45 spent shells were picked up at that scene.

Up to last night, homicide detectives were still unclear as to what motivated any of the killings.

Yesterday, weeping relatives and friends of the four men killed at the beer joint converged on the Spanish Town Police Station, apparently awaiting the possible arrest of any of the gunmen.

Proprietor of the beer joint, 70 year-old Roy Freeman, who is also the grandfather of one of the murdered men — Shaw — was still in shock.

“I don’t know why dem do it,” he said, his eyes blank. “We live nice here, we nuh have nuh enemy, we and nobody nuh have nutten, so we wonder whey dis a come from.”

Freeman said about 20 persons were drinking beer and watching a James Bond movie when the gunmen struck.

“Well sah, a little boy going through the front gate come up on two gunman,” Freeman explained. “Dem push him back in the shop and him hide behind the fridge. Then I heard gunshots an everybody run for cover.

“This is a peaceful place, everybody gwan nice and happy here, so me nuh know what happen,” he moaned.