SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — The Westmoreland police were last evening following strong leads into Tuesday night’s brutal gun slaying of three men and the injury of two others by masked men in the tough Hudson Street section of the parish capital, better known as ‘Russia’.

A highly placed source said the suspects in the gruesome killing are believed to be affiliated to the Bobo Gang, based in ‘Russia’.

The dead men have been identified as Bromfield Clarke, also called ‘Brammie’, 45, who was employed as a groundsman at the Darliston Police Station; 58-year-old truck driver Melbourne Johnson, also called ‘Zaro’, both of Hudson Street; and 53-year-old truck driver George White of Llandillo, Phase Two Housing Scheme, also in the parish.

According to persons who claimed to be eyewitnesses, the incident happened shortly after 8:00 pm when two men dressed in masks surprised a group of middle-aged and elderly men gathered outside a shop where they meet most evenings for domino games, and began firing shots barrage of gunshots, killing the three men on the spot. The two injured men were taken to hospital where they were admitted.

The blood that covered a section of the domino table and was splattered on the ground told the grim tale of what unfolded Tuesday night. On the table which was grazed by a gunshots, lay dominoes, one of which was broken, reportedly by a bullet.

A slender man who was seen mid-morning yesterday in the shop having a drink of white rum with a group of elderly men, whose faces were all etched with grief, joked that domino might have saved his life.

He said when he saw the two masked men appear “out of nowhere” he knew there would be trouble so he ‘dived’ under the small domino table as gunshots rang out.

“Them all fire shot on the table and bust the double six and grazed the table which I was under. You hear the song about ‘Last Night a Deejay Saved my Life’? Well, last night a double six saved my life. Me have to give thanks for that. Me should carry it home and put it up, you know. Serious thing. You have to tek bad things mek laugh sometimes. We can’t just get down-hearted,” the man said, as he took a sip of rum.

He recounted that while under the table, one of the murder victims fell near him, splashing his shirt with blood.

Other persons who were at the shop yesterday morning said they were fearful and may not gather at their favourite evening spot for some time to play dominoes.

The operator of the small shop said it was the first time since he started business decades ago that there has been any violent incident there.

“Since the [passage of the] Night Noise Abatement Act we close during the week at 12:00 am. If is 11:45 pm when the police passing they would say a 15 minutes more you have and we would say yes man, we know. The police know we are not involved in violence as it is just elderly people come here,” one man said.

Central Westmoreland Member of Parliament Roger Clarke, who visited the bereaved families yesterday, said he was appalled by the spike of murders in the parish.

He said that he has since spoken to Security Minister Peter Bunting and was assured that measures would be put in place to curb the upsurge of violence in the parish.