DIAS, Hanover – A pastor was among two persons shot and killed by heartless gunmen at a wake in this rural town early yesterday morning. Three other persons, including the pastor’s wife and their son, were also shot and injured during the attack.

The Hanover police said 45-year-old Linford Richie, also called ‘Uncle Homesy’ who heads the Rivers of Life Church, and 41-year-old carpenter Godfrey Cunningham, who goes by the name ‘Brian’, were shot dead by two masked men who surprised attendants at the wake and began firing wildly.

The wake was being held at Richie’s home for his nephew, 27-year-old Trevor Chambers, a fisherman from Cyril Gully in nearby St James, who, along with 25-year-old Keston Tafari Brown and 17-year-old Kyles Tucker, was shot and killed by gunmen while at a party along Perry Street in the parish two Saturdays ago. Four persons were also shot and injured in that incident.

It is believed that Chambers, Brown and Tucker were targeted by the gunmen. A relative of one of the alleged gunmen was shot and killed later that day in what the police believed was a reprisal for the triple killing. The police say they are seeking Denton Ruddock of Perry Street in connection with the triple killing.

Meanwhile, yesterday’s attack occurred at approximately 2:30 am in a section of the Dias community known as Central Flats as a group of residents played a game of dominoes on the verandah of the pastor’s home.

The two masked men entered the premises and demanded money then opened fire on the group before anyone could respond. Eyewitnesses told the Observer that Cunningham and Richie ran and locked themselves inside the house. However, the gunmen kicked in the door and sprayed the men with bullets.

Yesterday, a teary-eyed female relative of the pastor, who asked to remain unidentified, recounted the horrifying incident.

“To be frank, me inside me house and heard the explosions, after which I heard feet running around the house side when me go down me lie down on the tile. Me hear when somebody say open the door right now and me hear explosions and me hear (the pastor’s wife) say do no give me no more as she called for the blood of Jesus,” the distraught woman remarked.

Yesterday morning a large group of residents, their faces etched with grief, gathered at the death house to express their sympathies.

“He was a good man. I don’t see why anybody would want to kill him,” uttered one woman.

However, most of the residents were tight-lipped about the incident, saying they were not present at the house when the incident took place and as such could not comment.