WESTMORELAND, Jamaica — The police were up to last night trying to find the gunman who shot and killed two motorcycle taxi operators Thursday afternoon.

The deceased have been identified as 23-year-old Michael Clarke and 32-year-old Milton Johnson, both of a Red Ground, Negril, Westmoreland. They became the first two murder victims in the parish for the year.

Police reported that about 4:30 Thursday afternoon, Johnson and Clarke were at a motorcycle repair shop when another biker drove up and opened fire hitting Johnson. A police source told OBSERVER ONLINE that Clarke, in an attempt to escape, ended up running into the line of fire.

Both men who were taken to hospital where they were pronounced dead.

The Savanna-la-Mar police who are investigating, believe that Johnson was the gunman’s target.

OBSERVER ONLINE was informed that several attempts were previously made on Johnson’s life by cronies of the late Torneal Haughton, also called ‘Malta’, who for a number of years topped the Westmoreland police’s most wanted list.

Johnson had allegedly inflicted a blow to Haughton, which blinded one of the eyes of the late reputed leader of the feared Alma Gang.

Haughton was killed during a shoot-out with the police on December 31,2013. He and his gang were said to be responsible for a number of murders in Westmoreland.

The Westmoreland Police Division recorded 50 murders in 2014, which was 39 less than the previous year.