WESTERN BUREAU- Two double murders, one in St James and another in Hanover eight hours later, have rocked the western end of the island, leaving police looking for clues.

One of the killings was a vigilante-style mob murder of two brothers while in the other, a young girl and a cabbie were murdered execution-style as they fetched water at a communal standpipe.

According to police reports, at about 6:00 am yesterday, an angry mob chopped 35 year-old Errol Panther and 33 year-old Trevor Panther to death in Montpellier, St James.

The brothers allegedly broke into a shop in Red Ground District, Montpellier and stole several items before setting the shop ablaze, cops said. They were allegedly attempting to break into the shopkeeper’s home when they were caught, chopped and severely beaten by a group of persons who had converged on the scene. They were taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where they succumbed to their injuries.

A source told the Observer that items stolen from the shop were found on the body of one of the deceased.

And while Montpellier residents expressed no remorse over the Panther brothers’ demise, there were many tears shed for 17 year-old Andrieka James, the young Rusea’s High School student who was looking forward to her CXC exams in June. James and 34 year-old taxi operator, Samuel Lawrence, were placed on the ground and shot in the back of the head at a standpipe in Kew, Hanover at about 9:00 pm Tuesday.

The teenager’s mother, Angella Allen, has been shattered by her daughter’s death. All she could think about yesterday was her child’s eagerness to get through her CXC exams in June and get on with her dreams of being an accountant and part-time model.

Police said that James and Lawrence – both of Claremont, Hanover – were shot dead when they were surprised by three armed men at a stand-pipe in Kew.

According to the police, at about 9:00 pm Lawrence – a well-known taxi operator in the area – drove his Toyota Corolla motor car to the standpipe to fetch water. James was his passenger. While at the standpipe, cops said, the duo was pounced upon by the gunmen who reportedly placed them face down and shot them in their heads.

The killers later escaped in Lawrence’s car.

As news of the heartless murders circulated in the deep rural district of Claremont and neighbouring communities, scores of residents gathered at several locations to express their disgust.

On the family’s small verandah, Andreika’s grandmother, Zetta Allen, broke down in tears at frequent intervals. She was finding it difficult to accept the fact that her granddaughter was not alive.

“She gone a school, she nuh dead, nuh true?” she asked, while being comforted by relatives and friends.

At Rusea’s High the young girl’s classmates and her form teacher were also taking the news of her death very hard.

Throughout the day, several guidance counsellors and the school’s pastor provided counselling for Andreika’s classmates.

Up to late yesterday, the police had not established a motive for the killings, but the residents have placed the blame squarely on the 30-year absence of piped water in the small community.

“If it wasn’t because we don’t have water, dem wouldn’t dead,” one resident said, adding that Claremont residents have to travel three miles to Kew to get the commodity.

Member of Parliament for the area Barrington Grey, yesterday confirmed the residents’ claim.

He said, however, that the community is expected to get water in their taps when the Great River to Lucea Water Project is completed in January 2005.

The MP said he is now making arrangements for water to be trucked to the area.