MONTPELIER, St James — A man was yesterday shot and killed by gunmen who ensnared him in the St Michael’s Anglican Church yard in the full view of his two children he was dropping off at the St Mary’s Preparatory School next door the church.

Police identified the deceased as Sheldon Dennis, a 28-year-old unemployed of Mount Carey here in St James.

According to persons who claimed to have witnessed the incident, about 7:30, Dennis was among parents who drove onto the church compound, as is customary, to drop off his children at the rear gate of the school.

Dennis, they said, left his children inside the motor vehicle upon realising that he was being approached by two men brandishing handguns and ran on the church’s compound. But he did not get far as he fell in the grass and was peppered with gunshots by his attackers, in the full view of other parents and children, including his.

Onlookers claimed that the gunmen escaped in a motor car that had taken them to the area.

One of the gunmen’s bullets reportedly hit the side of the Dennis’ blue 2009 Toyota Allion, but fortunately his two children were not hurt.

Efforts to get a comment from the management of the school proved futile as the facility was forced to close its doors following the horrifying incident, which left the young children traumatised.

Residents of Mount Carey, who were seen outside the home of the deceased, refused to speak to the media.

Dennis’ mother, meanwhile, was overcome with grief and unable to give an interview.

His father, Boysie Dennis, said that his son was in high spirits when he spoke to him on his cellphone minutes before he was gunned down.

“Me can’t talk too much because when me talk me head start hurt me because me trouble with high blood pressure,” he said, trying to hold back the tears.

A large group of police who arrived on the scene after the Jamaica Observer spoke with the father of the deceased, were seen entered the one-storey mansion where the deceased resided.

Yesterday’s killing brought to the number of murders recorded by the St James Police Division since the start of the year to 81.