The shooting death Tuesday night of a woman who residents of Summerfield in Clarendon described as “a nice lady to everybody”, sparked a riot in this rural district, as an angry mob torched three vehicles owned by the slain woman’s husband, smashed windows at his home and business and attacked firefighters called to the scene.

According to the May Pen police, at about 9:00 pm on Tuesday, businessman 58 year-old Gordon ‘Arrow’ Morgan and his wife 49 year-old Marcia had a dispute during which Morgan is alleged to have fired several shots, hitting her in her chest and back. She was taken to the Chapelton hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Constabulary Communication Network liason officer for Clarendon, Odale Mulgrave, told the Observer that subsequent to the shooting approximately 3,000 residents from Summerfield and neighbouring communities converged on the scene requesting that Morgan be handed over to them.

After an hour-long stand-off with the police, the mob proceeded to torch vehicles belonging to Morgan. In the ensuing anarchy three trucks belonging to the accused were completely burnt and the windows of his business place and home smashed.

The efforts of two fire units summoned from May Pen and Frankfield were also thwarted by the mob as they turned on the firemen, damaging both fire trucks, the police said.

Teargas and warning shots from the police managed to quell the disorder and allowed the police to remove Morgan from the scene and arrest him.

Yesterday, the residents were still angry at the incident.

“The only reason we neva burn the building is because the lady body was in there,” one said.

“The reason this happen is not only because the lady is dead, but is also because of how he used to behave,” said another.

A long-time Summerfield resident, former policeman Lytton Robinson, said Morgan, who has five children – one with his wife – moved to the community in 1978 and had been doing business there ever since. Morgan’s teenage daughter, who was at home at the time of the shooting, has had to seek medical treatment, Robinson said.

Meanwhile, Harry Douglas, the junior minister in the Ministry of Local Government and Environment, has condemned the attack on the fire fighters and the damage to the vehicles.

“I call upon all law-abiding Jamaicans to rise up in unison in condemning the action of these lawless persons,” Douglas said.