Denham Town erupted in anger yesterday after three men were shot dead and two other people were wounded during what the police said was a fire fight with gunmen in the gritty West Kingston community.

Residents lambasted police and soldiers, accusing them of killing the men in cold blood, while scores of people gathered outside Maddens Funeral Home near the Kingston Public Hospital where the bodies of the three dead men were taken.

Late yesterday evening, the police named the dead men as:

. Damion Taylor, 27, also called ‘Sharp Shooter’;

. Dwight Picton, 23, also Known as ‘Max’; and

. a man identified only as ‘Birdie’.

According to the police, a patrol of cops and soldiers went to a premises at Little Water Street in Denham Town and was fired on by gunmen. The cops say the fire was returned and when the smoke cleared, the three dead men and the two injured persons were found.

The police also alleged that three guns – a Lorcin 9mm pistol, registered #L028977; a Smith and Wesson pistol, serial number PBF7980; and a Beretta .38 pistol, registered E69654Y along with 51 rounds of assorted ammunition were seized in the incident.

Among the hundreds of people who converged on the funeral home was a woman who identified herself only as Patsy and who said she was Taylor’s aunt.

Patsy was beside herself with grief at the sight of her nephew’s bullet-riddled body lying on a table. She cried openly as she shook the lifeless body.

“Damion, a me, answer me,” she pleaded. “Look how me tell you say you not to mingle. Now you gone leave we Damion,” she cried.

It was only after another woman pulled her away that Patsy left the table. However, she collapsed before reaching the exit of the funeral home.

According to Patsy, Damion and other members of her family had to flee Torrington Park, another volatile community in close proximity to Denham Town, after gunmen issued threats on their lives.

She said the owner of the house in which the men where killed was a woman who the family had known for some time.

“Him know the girl that live there, we and her grow up together,” she told the Observer.

People inside the morgue spoke in hushed tones about what transpired at the house. According to one woman, the men were killed in cold blood.

“Him (Damion) just come back from market, a cook them inna the house a cook when the police them come,” the woman said. “The door not even did lock when them come. Police cannot just come shoot up people so.”

Next door at the Kingston Public Hospital, other angry residents of the community, who apparently went there to see the wounded persons, stood outside under the steely gaze of a large contingent of police.

According to a policeman at the Denham Town Police Station, the three men were all from Torrington Park and at least one of them was wanted for several murders, arson and other gun-related crimes in that community.

One of the crimes the man was said to be wanted for was the double murder of a mother and her daughter whose home was torched after they were shot earlier this year.

The Bureau of Special Investigation is probing the incident.