MONTEGO BAY, St James — The St James police have stepped up their search for the two gunmen who killed three men Friday night at the Charles Gordon Market here.

The deceased, all of St James addresses, have been identified as 39-year-old shopkeeper Phillip Binns of Granville; 32-year-old higgler Hansel Chambers of Summer Hill; and 23-year-old George Holder of Dumfries.

Reports are that shortly before 9:00 pm on Friday, two shooters opened fire on a group of men who were at a shop operated by Holder, deep inside the market.

After the shooting subsided, four men were found suffering from gunshot wounds and taken to hospital where Binns, Chambers and Holder were pronounced dead, while the other man was admitted in serious condition.

A police source close to the investigation revealed that over 15 spent shells were removed from the crime scene.

When the Jamaica Observer visited the market yesterday, the vendors were tight-lipped.

“Mi don’t want gunman come kill mi,” one female vendor expressed.

Meanwhile, according to head of the St James Police Division, Senior Superintendent Steve McGregor, Holder, who was out on bail, was the target of the attack.

“The young man (Holder) was a violence producer. He had a dispute with others from in and around the area, and they made at him on three different occasions, and they caught up with him last (Friday) night and he was killed. Two innocent bystanders were unfortunately killed,” McGregor disclosed.

He further revealed: “We have the data, we know all of who were involved.”

The triple murder pushed the murder tally in the parish to 64 since the start of the year, six more than the corresponding period last year.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who yesterday toured the market, met with Christina White, the mother of three of Holder’s children, ages 10, 12, and 14. The prime minister, who condemned the incident, pledged to support the fatherless children.

“We met one person so far, and the sad situation is, the owner of the shop that was killed, he died leaving three children — 10, 12 and 14. I don’t know what we can explain to those children, what we can say to those children, but we are going to embrace them and we are going to support them as much as we can to ensure that there isn’t a continuation of this,” Holness said.

“It really saddens my heart each time we have to speak to the loved ones of those who have been murdered. It gives you a sense of deep sadness, but it also gives you a sense of resolve that this is something that you have to deal with and we will be dealing with it with two parallel strategies,” the prime minister went on.

He also pledged the Government’s continued support for the police in carrying out their operational responsibilities.

“We continue to support them with resources, but also we have a platform. We have a platform to appeal to the people who live in these communities that violence and murder is not the only way to resolve conflicts,” the prime minister charged.

Member of Parliament for the St James West Central constituency, in which the market is located, Marlene Malahoo Forte, also appealed to residents to settle their disputes peacefully.

“We cannot continue to have so much bloodshed in the country. We can’t and we are also pledging our support to the families, and it is not just the immediate families,but the entire market is grieving; and the sense of insecurity and the lack of safety, we have to take charge, we have to to play our part. We are committed to do ours in government and we are asking the citizens to play their part,” said Malahoo Forte, who is also the attorney general.