LAST week’s shooting death of at least five people in Spanish Town, St Catherine have been blamed on an ongoing feud between the rival One Order and Clansman gangs.

More than 15 people have been killed and several others injured over the past two weeks as a result of the feud.

Deputy police superintendent Anthony Castell said most of the shootings have been reprisal attacks between members of the two gangs.

“What should be understood is that, for survival, a lot of these people do vending in the bus park. Because it is central and has a high concentration of people, some of these people may have come from these areas that are at odds against each other,” he added.

Castell told the Observer that maintaining a police presence in the affected area of the town was critical to the return of law and order. He said foot patrols and the positioning of cops in the bus park and surrounding areas had increased since Wednesday’s shootings.

The police have, in the meantime, held one man in connection with Wednesday’s shooting. However, his name has been withheld pending further investigations. The man is believed to be a member of the One Order gang.

Deputy Superintendent Castell said, however, that nothing would be spared in an effort to bring the town back to normality.

“We are making a sustained effort in maintaining law and order in the area. We have help from outside sources, that has allowed us to blanket the town with police personnel,” Castell said.

A police source told the Observer that there has been renewed tension between members of the One Order and Clansman gangs over control of the lucrative extortion that operates at the town’s bus terminal. The rivalry, the source added, has increased since the death of former One Order gang leader Andrew “Bunman” Hope earlier this year.