RESIDENTS of Davidson Crescent in Drewsland say they are in fear as they believe there is likely to be a reprisal following Tuesday’s fatal shooting of 29-year-old taxi driver Michael Binglin Jr, and the burning of his house in the tough St Andrew community.

According to the Duhaney Park police, around 12:15 am residents heard explosions and saw fire coming from a two-bedroom house occupied by Binglin. The police along with the fire department were contacted and the blaze was extinguished upon their arrival. The charred remains of a man was later found and removed to the morgue.

Although the police have not officially confirmed the identity of the deceased man, family members said Binglin was the only one in the house at the time of the incident.

“Dem kill Spangy,” one family member was heard saying, referring to Binglin by his alias.

But, despite the time that has passed since the incident occurred, our news team was greeted with tight-lipped residents who stood in utter disbelief that something of that nature happened in their community.

Trelawny farmer and Binglin’s father, Michael Binglin Sr, 76, told the Jamaica Observer that he got the news of his son’s passing and it “mash” him up.

“I feel down. Me see how the place burn to ashes. Me just feel down. I don’t know what could’ve caused this. Him friendly, him jovial, him nuh mek nuh trouble in a Drewsland. Me and him did very close…Me mash up,” the elder Binglin said, noting that he has not yet seen his son’s body.

“One of my nephews called me and tell me that them kill Spangy and burn him up… I got the call around 6:30 am [because] my phone did want to charge so I take my battery out of it to use the universal charger. So, as soon as I put it [the battery] in back I see the missed calls coming back in. So, them did a try get me from earlier. Mi just get ready and head to Kingston same time. You know from Trelawny it take a time fi reach, I think I left there after 10 am,” he said.

Binglin Sr said his son’s mother, who lives in the United Kingdom, was so shocked by the news and had to be taken to hospital.

“It take her down, she’s in the hospital right now after she hear,” the father of three said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a neighbour of the taxi driver told the Observer that she is now contemplating relocating because she feels unsafe.

Recalling the incident, the woman said: “I was sleeping, then I heard gunshots and when I heard the gunshots I got very scared [and] start hugging up my baby. After not hear anything more, I looked and saw that his house is one fire. Me start to cry because I know he was alone over there.”

She said that after she started screaming neighbours came out and tried to “kick down the gate. However, she said this was proved to be impossible so they went through her yard and entered the taximan’s yard using an opening in the zinc fence.

Blinglin Jr “don’t trouble people [and] he was a very quiet [person]”, said the woman. “Everybody in the community love him. Everybody was mourning and crying, because everybody know him as a good youth. Him and everybody talk good.”

“Me need fi go somewhere different right now because me have me baby and me nuh want nothing happen. I don’t want to stay here,” she added.

Meanwhile, Binglin Jr’s aunt, 72-year-old Carmen Francis, said she, too, is not feeling comfortable in the community anymore.

“Me nuh feel so safe at all; me nuh know weh them kill him for. Mi nuh know how them kill the man one son. A the first me see this, from me live here,” Francis said, noting that she has been living in the community for more than 10 years.