WESTERN BUREAU – A tense calm prevailed last night in two Falmouth communities following the gun slaying of a four-month-old baby called Candy and two other persons, in gang attacks by warring factions.

Last night, the mother of the baby, the fourth victim of the shootings, remained in an undisclosed hospital.

The shootings occurred separately in Compound and Race Course.

In the first attack, 17 year-old Fabian Gayle of 63 Cornwall Street was shot and killed.

The second incident, which the police theorise was a reprisal for Gayle’s murder, claimed the lives of fisherman Pharon McLeish, 34, and his four month-old daughter Candy of Race Course.

The baby’s mother, whose name the police have withheld for security reasons, was also shot and seriously injured in that incident.

The reports so far pieced together by the police say that at about 9:30 pm Wednesday, Gayle, who is unemployed, was fatally shot by unknown assailants at 70 Cornwall Street. He had gone to a shop to purchase food when he was killed.

The attack on the McLeish home happened at about 1:30 am in the wee hours of Thursday by men who prised off a piece of board from the one-room house and opened fire indiscriminately, spraying the room with bullets.

All the occupants were hit. McLeish and Candy were pronounced dead at the Falmouth Hospital, and Candy’s mother transferred from there.

The Falmouth CIB is carrying out investigations into the shootings.

Yesterday, residents of Compound said they had anticipated trouble from a section of Race Course called ‘Hill Top’.

“When we find him (Gayle), him still hold on to the drinking straw in him hand tightly,” said a female resident. “The box drinks and biscuits are still on the spot, but dog eat the chicken,” she said.

In Race Course, the residents were still bewildered at the triple shooting there.

At the McLeish house, the gaping hole remained where the baby killers had removed the length of board to gain access to the family.

Bloodstains were strewn across the mattress on the bed inside the room. Trails of blood were seen along a path in the yard where McLeish was believed to have run after he was shot.

The appalled residents, who described McLeish as a peaceful individual, were still grappling with his killing. The murder of the four-month-old they found even more unbelievable.

McLeish’s father, known as ‘Woody’, was grief stricken.

“He is my youngest son and he does not give trouble. Is this coming weekend he was supposed to go to Pedro Cays to fish,” he said.

The deputy superintendent of police assigned to Falmouth, Harris Daley, told the Observer that police had been deployed in the troubled communities.

“We have put extra policemen into the troubled areas,” Daley said. “We have drawn extra police from other areas to work in those areas. Also, we will be having the community relations personnel speak with people in the areas.”

“We know that at this time people won’t say anything, but we are still encouraging them to speak confidentially to some of us and we can really get to the bottom of this thing.”

– hinesh@jamaicaobserver.com