MINISTER of National Security Dwight Nelson has reacted with fury at what he describes as the unbridled brutality of the murders of eight persons in Tredegar Park yesterday.Related story:Bloodbath – 11-year-old girl among 8 victims of massacre

In a statement today, Nelson said the massacre was a brazen demonstration of the perpetrators lack of basic respect for the sanctity of life and the extent that they would go to create mayhem in the society.

He said he was “aghast at the new level of brutality to which merciless gangsters have descended and declared that they have no place in civil society.”

All Jamaicans were urged by the minister to rally around the Government to help “root out the barbarity and vileness that seek to overwhelm sections of society” and for security forces to renew their efforts.

He appealed to the nation not to allow the deaths to go in vain and expressed his condolences to to the families of the victims and the entire Tredegar Park community.

The victims of the massacres were: 11-year-old Alexifia Anderson; her mother Hopelin Dennis, 43; her sister Nekfifa Anderson, 23; and her brother Joel Anderson.

The other four victims also came from one family: Eldon Heron, 60; his son, Eldon Heron Junior, 38; Gary Stewart, 22; and Orrett Miller, 26. Another male was also hospitalised in serious condition for gunshot wounds.

The police reported that two of the gunmen said to be involved in the early morning massacre were killed in a shoot-out. Police identified them as Jerome Williams, and a man known only as ‘Kevin’ or ‘Bilbo’, who they said were members of the ‘Clansman’ gang, which operates in Spanish Town.

Residents of Tredegar Park said about 20 armed men, dressed in dark-coloured clothing, invaded sections of the community known as Monkey Town and Backbush where they opened fire on several homes, then set fire to some about 1:00 am.