POLICE from the East Kingston Division are implementing measures to quell a number of gang feuds that have accounted for five murders since the start of the year.

According to Superintendent Henton Williams, gang feuds have broken out in the communities of Franklyn Town, Dunkirk, Rockfort, Jarrett Lane, Shooters Hill, Bayshore Park, and Taylor Lands in Bull Bay.

“We will put in place measures and have conducted several operations in order to maintain law and order,” he said.

Last Friday, two men, identified as 29-year-old Richard Thomas and Byran Palmer, were shot dead in Shooters Hill, where two gangs were said to be wreaking havoc.

Police identified the gangs as the Licence Lane gang and the Toby Gully gang.

It is theorised that Thomas was killed by members of the Licence Road gang as he worked in that area and lived in Toby Gully.

Palmer’s death is suspected to be a reprisal for Thomas’s murder.

While the police were processing the crime scene of Thomas’s murder, gunshots rang out and when the cops responded Palmer was found lying in a pool of blood. He was shot 17 times.

In a bid to save his family, Palmer reportedly jumped through a window and faced his attackers. His children who were inside the house were not harmed.

“If he did not jump through the window his children would have been hurt at some point,” Williams said.

The informal community of Shooters Hill is difficult to police as there is hardly any paved road and the terrain is treacherous. The police are also at a distinct disadvantage as the criminals who perch in hideouts in hills are always aware when the police attempt to enter the community to conduct operations, said a source.

The same conditions are evident in Bayshore Park — a large community located in the hills surrounding the middle-class community of Harbour View.

On Saturday two men, including a teacher, were killed and three others were injured in Bayshore Park. Police suspect that a turf war was the reason for the attack which took the lives of Mona Primary School grade five teacher Paul Watson and his friend Omar Campbell.

The five were in a bar when gunmen approached and opened fire.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday night a man was shot and injured in Franklyn Town, while police have been carrying out several raids in Rockfort and Jarrett Lane to quell any further violence between gangs from both communities in the aftermath of the killing of a man on Lucas Road in Rockfort.

There are also reports of frequent gunfire in Dunkirk and rising tension in Taylor Lands.