SIX persons, including a good Samaritan who had gone to the assistance of an elderly man, were shot dead during the night in incidents involving gunmen in Kingston, St Thomas and St James, as gun violence continued unchecked in the first week of the new year.

In Kingston, three residents, Michael Cooper, Stacey-Ann Hutchinson and Errol Johnson, were shot dead Friday night by unknown assailants in a series of crimes involving surprise attack and fire.

Cooper, 33, was killed by men with high-powered weapons, as he rode his bicycle along Pine Street in Kingston.

Around five minutes later Hutchinson, 24, was killed after intruders armed with guns kicked open the door of her house on Wild Street, took her outside, shooting her several times.

Before leaving the scene, the gunmen then set her home on fire. Further uptown on Halifax Avenue in Kingston 6, at about 7:45 pm, Johnson, 56, was shot dead after attempting to assist a 72-year-old he saw being robbed of his Toyota Corolla motorcar by two gunmen.

Outside the corporate area, Patrick Stewart of Seaforth in St Thomas was shot and killed by unknown assailants at his home at about 12:30 am Saturday.

Neighbours reported hearing gunfire to the police who went to Stewart’s Main Street residence and discovered his body in the yard with gunshot wounds.

In the west, police shot and killed Gregory Brissett of Mount Salem in St. James, after Brissett allegedly pulled a firearm on the lawmen, who were in running pursuit of him at the time.

A Ruger semi-automatic pistol was seized, said police reports. The Bureau of Special Investigations is probing the shooting.