MONTEGO BAY, St James

The school population of the Montego Bay Preparatory School was thrown into shock yesterday morning when armed men gunned down a father as he dropped off his infant daughter at the school.

The police have identified the slain parent as Leo Harris, 45-year-old electrical engineer of Moy Hall, St James.

Teachers, other members of the school staff and students — including Harris’ daughter — were among the witnesses of the gruesome early morning killing, which caused parents to grab their children and scurry for cover.

A psychiatrist from the Child Development Agency (CDA) and the chaplain for the Area One Police Division, Rev Courtney Walters, conducted separate counselling sessions for some of the stunned children and staff members at the school yesterday.

According to CCN Liaison Officer for St James, Constable Richam Davis, yesterday at about 8:05 am, Leo Harris was dropping off his daughter at the school when he was pounced upon by two men who opened fire hitting him several times. After the attack the armed men sped off in a white Toyota Corolla motorcar in the direction of Mango Walk. The Montego Bay CIB are investigating.

Harris was scheduled to appear in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate’s Court later this month to face charges of murder, illegal possession of firearm and ammunition, wounding with intent and abduction.

He was implicated in the killing of Fabian Grant, 29, of Granville in St James and Nicole Watt, 19, of Moy Hall District, also in that parish over two years ago.

It was alleged that Harris was among three gunmen who hijacked Grant’s Toyota Townace bus along a dirt track inside Gutters, St James, some time after 11:00 pm on June 29. They robbed him of an undetermined sum of money and then opened fire on him, according to the police reports. A second man was also injured during the incident. The gunmen then abducted Watt, who was travelling with Grant at the time. The 19-year-old pre-trained teacher was found dead on a section of the Orange Valley Estate in Trelawny shortly after 8:00 am the next day.

The incident occurred a day after one of the school’s recent graduates was killed along with her mother in a car accident in the second city.

“It is a double tragedy because just yesterday a past student who just graduated to MoBay High along with her mother was mowed down by a car. We learned about that just a few moments before hearing the gunshots. We are trying to cope. We are not sure if school will be back to normal tomorrow (today), but we are trying to deal with it as best as possible. It is not easy to get over, but we are doing our best,” said Grade Five teacher, Nadine Williams.

Said a visibly unnerved Williams: “I was actually setting some early work on the board for the children when I heard the shots. The teachers were frightened and we went around and asked them to close the doors and keep the children inside. Some of them were screaming but basically we tried to keep everybody under control.”