Gunmen yesterday killed three men then turned their guns on pedestrians and motorists in a brazen mid-morning robbery in the bustling town of May Pen, Clarendon on the southern end of the island.

The robbers, who police said escaped with more than $1 million, killed 41-year old Guardsman Limited security guard Lenford Levy of Raymonds, Clarendon; Albert Swinston, a 36-year-old carpenter of Rock River, Clarendon; and 38-year-old Carl Goodwin, a chauffeur employed by Access Cambio.

Police said another Guardsman security guard, Lloyd Smith, and Access Cambio sales representative Valome Lindsay, 39, were injured in the attack that appeared to have been well-planned.

According to Constabulary Communication Network liaison officer Constable Kamay Watson, shortly after 9:00 am, six employees of Access Cambio – which is located inside a building bearing the name Talia, on Main Street – were in front of the building in a company vehicle.

The cambio employees, Watson said, were about to leave for various financial institutions in the town when they were attacked by three heavily armed men.

The robbers, who one eye-witness said were dressed in blue denim similar to that worn by the police, then turned their guns on frightened pedestrians and motorists who were trying to flee from the scene.

The men then escaped in a light brown Toyota Corolla motorcar with the cambio money.

The five persons shot were taken to the May Pen Hospital where Levy, Swinston, and Goodwin were pronounced dead and Smith and Lindsay admitted. Last night, Smith was said to be in critical condition.

Later, the police found the getaway car abandoned in a section of May Pen known as Curteau Hill.

“May Pen gone, it gone, it gone,” one woman, a picture of dejection, was heard saying as she examined the extent of the damage caused by yesterday morning’s attack. Small puddles of blood were seen along Main Street.

“This is happening too often now,” another person added in obvious reference to another daylight robbery in the town early last month in which the owner of a business was shot dead by four gunmen. Two of the robbers were subsequently killed by the cops in a shoot-out shortly after the robbery, while a third was beaten to death by an angry mob a day later.

“I was coming up the road (Main Road) [at] approximately 9:00 am. and I saw on my left a white van, a Suzuki, coming out.” one woman who witnessed yesterday’s incident told the Observer. “At first, I heard a shot and then everybody started looking around. Then I heard several other shots and then I saw the man go and start firing gunshots into the window (of the van).

“After that, he went to the back of the van and opened the door and started firing gunshots inside of it. Then I looked to my right, there was a man on the other side of the road with a rifle, and he was shouting instructions, and [I heard] shots from the other side of the van. So I got out of my car and ran and I just hear pure shots behind me.

“All that was in my mind while I was running was, I wonder if them see me and think I see [their faces] and shoot me. Then after a while somebody said ‘Them gone’ and I hear tyres screeching and looked and I saw a Toyota Corolla speed away. The men were wearing denim suits and had something black on their heads.”

Yesterday, at the May Pen Hospital, Veronica Barrett, Goodwin’s common-law wife, was inconsolable as she sat on the steps outside the public entrance to the hospital.

“Him (Goodwin) put me on a taxi this morning and then when I reached home I got a phone call that them shoot him,” she said before breaking down into tears.

“My hand dem a tremble,” she was heard repeating shortly afterwards.

Goodwin is survived by several children, two of which – 15-year-old Aldane and 12-year-old Chaleyne Goodwin – he fathered with Barrett.