MARION Campbell, a 36-year-old bartender of 4 Fiddies Road, Kgn 13, was shot dead near the intersection of Fiddies Road and Whitfield Avenue Monday evening, as violence continues to plague communities in the Maxfield Avenue area.

Campbell’s death brought to nine the number of persons that have been killed in Maxfield Avenue and its environs in the last five weeks. Campbell is also the second female bartender to be killed in the area during this period.

According to the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN), at approximately 8:10 pm Campbell was locking up her bar located near the intersection, when a white Toyota Corolla motor car drove up with three men aboard.

“One of the men alighted from the vehicle and following a brief conversation he reportedly pulled a gun and opened fire hitting her. The police were summoned and Campbell was taken to the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) where she was pronounced dead,” said the CCN.

Police investigations into Campbell’s death have not produced any concrete motives for her death. However, Superintendent Newton Amos of the Hunts Bay station offered two possible theories for Campbell’s murder.

He believed she could have been killed because she witnessed a shooting and arson attack in the community.

Amos said she could also have been killed because of a feud between her family and another family in the area.

The other persons who have lost their lives in the area are:

. Anthony Douglas, 22, of Spanish Town;

. Glassmy Davis, 53, of 1st Ave, Central Village, who died from injuries suffered during an attempted bus robbery last Saturday.

. Kerdel Salmon, 52, and Warren Newby, both of whom were attacked and shot dead on September 2 in a room behind a shop operated by Newby at 44 Maxfield Avenue.

. Sean Wright, 31, and Anthony “Matterhorn” Edwards, who were both shot dead near the entrance to Salmon’s shop on the morning of August 26.

. Henry James, 48, who was beaten with a hammer, stabbed several times in his upper body and shot once on his left side on the afternoon of August 26.

. Anneisha McLaughlin, who was attacked and shot in the face in her bar on Wellington Street a few moments after James’s body was found.

Amos attributed the violence in the tough Maxfield Avenue community to the “close interlinking of the members of the criminal fraternities”.

He said the situation could, however, be worse if the police were not maintaining a presence in the area.

“I want to commend the foot-patrols being carried out in the area because without them the situation in the community could have been much worse,” he said.

At the same time, he promised to increase policing in the troubled community. “We intend to beef up the police presence in those areas and we intend to monitor closely the activities going on there,” he said.

“At the same time, we need the people to help us and co-operate with us so that we can do our jobs well and in turn help them,” said Amos.