SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine – Six houses were yesterday fire-bombed in Gordon Pen by armed men who also sprayed bullets on cars as they went berserk in the tough Spanish Town community which has been rocked by gang feud in the past months.

The Molotov cocktail bombs thrown by the men in the pre-dawn attack completely destroyed two houses, leaving eight people homeless.

According to one resident, at about 1:30 he was awakened by a volley of gunshots. He said that he looked through a window and saw more than a dozen men with guns walking down the road and firing wildly. Some of the men, the resident said, had bottle torches in their hand.

“A JLP and JLP man dem a fight fe power. Top Gordon Pen have Love Lane under siege fe destroy everybody down yah. Every night dem shoot up people right and left pon rapid for all an hour and we have to hide in a we house,” said a resident of the community, which has over the years supported the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

“Gordon Pen people a labourite and a labourite a fight labourite. I don’t know wha dem fighting for,” said the man, who refused to give his name.

“Dem was like a army sah, not even police nuh arm like dem,” quipped another resident, who kept looking over his shoulder.

Yesterday’s assault follows closely on the heels of a fire on Monday, believed to be set by arsonists, which completely destroyed a shop owned by 46 year-old Hubert Wray at the corner of Love Lane and the Gordon Pen main road.

At about 6:00 yesterday morning residents blocked the Gordon Pen main road to protest against the criminal attack. Police later cleared the blockage, allowing for single-lane traffic.

Homes destroyed by the fire bomb posse include a five-apartment house owned by Virginia Campbell, 75, at the corner of Love Lane and Welsh Lane.

Windows and livingroom furniture in Desmond McKenzie’s two-bedroom house were destroyed. McKenzie, a 41 year-old security guard, said he was awakened by fire in the livingroom and had to throw his two children through a window then use a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze.

A Molotov cocktail (a broken quart bottle with Kerosene oil and wick) laid on the burnt-out settee. The front windscreen and windows of his Toyota Tercel motor car were riddled with bullet holes.

The houses of Yvonne McClean, Elaine Hunt, Sylvia Rose as well as those of Desmond Rhoden and Natasha McKenzie, both pastors of Mount Refuge Missionary Church, were also damaged during the attack.

“We want a command post with soldier and police here to seal off the place and get rid of the criminal them or else we a go dead off,” said a disturbed resident.

The police said 21 people have been shot dead in Gordon Pen since an outbreak of violence last September. Of this number, three were killed in the last four weeks. They include the June 1 murder of Shaneil Coley, 19, at the intersection of Love Lane and Welsh Lane.

Yesterday, Central St Catherine Member of Parliament Olivia “Babsy” Grange was concerned about the attacks and conflict.

“It is getting out of hand and I am checking to find the root cause of this conflict. We have to stop this series of attacks which has happened the second time in a week,” Grange said. She promised to assist those affected by the fire.

– whytetk@jamaicaobserver.com