TWO people were yesterday shot and injured and their house firebombed in Olympic Gardens, a tough community in Kingston.

According to a community source, between 3:30 and 4:00 yesterday morning armed men surrounded premises at 28 Swallow Road in the community, which houses several tenement dwellings, and began throwing Molotov cocktails, which caused fire damage to two of the houses. The armed men then began firing gunshots into the house, during which two persons were shot and injured. They were taken to hospital where they were treated for their wounds.

The source also told the Observer that the gunmen were spotted by other residents in the community, but claimed that when the police were called an officer said it was ‘a ploy to set up’ the police if they had responded.

“People see the gunman dem and them call the police, but the police say ‘A set unu want to set up man life’,” the source said.

The source said, too, that the attack was politically motivated, as the victims were accused of switching allegiance from the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) to the People’s National Party (PNP).

“Them say [the people] switch from labourite to PNP, but no PNP never get any votes around here yet. We tired of this, we can’t take this no more,” the source told the Observer.

However, Andrew Holness, member of parliament for West Central St Andrew, of which Olympic Gardens is a part, dismissed the claim that the attack was politically motivated.

“People are going to make those claims because that yard was involved in the confrontation that happened last year between [myself] and the ombudsman. [But] I don’t think that has anything to do with it. I think it is just a criminal act,” Holness told the Observer, making reference to an incident last September where he refused to shake hands with Political Ombudsman Herro Blair during a peace march in Olympic Gardens.

“It is a large family with several men. It appeared to be an internal feud,” Holness said.