MANDEVILLE, Manchester – Awash in late afternoon sunshine against the towering north-westerly backdrop of the Mile Gully Mountain, the village of Content in north central Manchester bore the distinct look of a postcard picture when the Observer visited on Monday.

Warm-hearted, well-mannered residents completed the serene, pastoral feel.

But Content’s peaceful quiet was ripped asunder early Saturday by multiple gunshots and a foul double murder.

As is customary on any given Friday night, men from the community were out late playing cards at a small enclosure, annexed to an equally small roadside shop operated by Melbourne Tomlin, nicknamed ‘Balung’, when three gunmen armed, police say, with a rifle and two handguns struck at about 1:00 am. When the shooting stopped Tomlin, 47-years-old and 26-year-old Shaun Sterling, who worked at an auto-parts store in Mandeville lay dead.

Five other card players who were in the annex escaped

unhurt, somehow. The Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) confirmed on the weekend that the Mandeville CIB was investigating the crime.

Investigators could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The blood stains had been washed away when the Observer arrived on Monday afternoon, but cards and dominoes – which had spilled as the gunshots sounded – littered the rough, concrete floor. Grieving residents who asked for anonymity pointed to bullet holes in the wood and zinc of the bar and annex which bore small flags – the black, green and gold of Jamaica and the red, green and yellow of Rastafari

Fear was everywhere. Residents pointed out that there was no attempt at robbery. The gunmen had come with intent to kill.

Residents speculated that the killers had “masked” for a while in shrubbery including ageing orange trees opposite the shop until the majority of accustomed Friday-night revellers drifted home to bed. They told of how one young man who had loitered outside the shop was tied up, gagged and left in the shrubbery.

“Him haffi count ‘imself lucky,” said one resident.

John (not his real name), who was among the survivors from the card game, remembers when one of his companions looked up to the door of the annex and shouted, “A whey u a do man?” That was the last thing said by anyone before the gunshots erupted.

“Di man dem come, dem no ask fi nuttin, dem jus start fire shot,” said John.

Residents say they have since heard that Tomlin was involved in a quarrel with another man in Mandeville about a week ago over paternity for young babies. The other man had issued threats, reports say.

At her house just over a hundred metres from the scene of the tragedy, Georgia Rowe, Sterling’s mother, sat quietly surrounded by relatives, friends and neighbours. She even managed a smile as she spoke about her lost son – one of two children.

“Shaun was a very friendly, jovial person. He was humble and honest and he loved children,” she said.

Four miles away in Bellefield, birthplace and the original home for Tomlin, people had also gathered when the Observer arrived at dusk. A nephew, Thomas Baker, said his uncle was a kind, humble person and a lover of children.