HOMICIDE detectives in St Catherine were last night investigating a possible link between yesterday’s double killing in Spanish Town and last Friday’s gun slaying of two men at Hellshire, both in the parish.

Yesterday, gunmen invaded a premises at Cecil Road in Spanish Town and shot dead Richard Samuels, 27, and his 19-year-old spouse Terry-Ann Watson. Police say residents summoned them after gunshots were heard in the area.

Samuels was found suffering from gunshot wounds in his yard while Watson was found inside the house. Both were pronounced dead at the Spanish Town hospital after they were taken there by the police.

According to the police, Samuels operated the Banging On The Beach shop at the Hellshire fishing beach, the spot where 42-year-old Earl Lecky and Jermaine Lalor, 23, were shot to death on Friday night.

Lecky and Lalor were among a group of persons at a shop on the beach when they were ambushed by three men travelling in a white Toyota Camry motor car. Police say the men came out the vehicle and opened fire at the group, killing Lecky and Lalor on the spot, and injuring two other men.

“We are looking into it, but we have no evidence at this time to say that there is a link between both incidents,” said Inspector Derrick Champagnie of the Spanish Town Criminal Investigation Bureau.

In the meantime, police patrolling the fishing beach yesterday shot and killed 30-year-old Delroy Maragh, also called ‘Twilly’, of Central Village in the parish.

Twilly, whom the police said was wanted in St Ann for robbery, pulled a gun from his waist after cops attempted to accost him on the fishing beach. A Smith and Wesson 9mm firearm and three rounds of ammunition were taken from him, the police said.

According to the St Catherine South Police, at about 10.30 am yesterday, a four-member police party was patrolling the fishing beach when Maragh, who the police claimed was acting suspiciously, was accosted. Maragh is reported to have run off in a bid to escape before he was chased and caught.

The police say Maragh then attacked one of the cops and a struggle ensued, during which Maragh allegedly pulled a firearm and attempted to fire at the cops, but the police were quicker to the draw and he was shot.

“He was a strong fellow and when the policeman managed to free himself he pulled a firearm from his waist and tried to kill them. Luckily, the officers managed to escape injury,” Deputy Superintendent Basil Grant of the Greater Portmore police said.

The cops said they then seized the firearm, one of two Smith and Wesson 9mm pistols recovered by the Greater Portmore police yesterday. The other weapon was recovered by cops who were patrolling the 2 North community in Greater Portmore on bicycles yesterday afternoon.

-walkerk@jamaicaobsrver.com