ST JAMES, Jamaica – One man was shot dead while three others were left nursing gunshot wounds after gunmen went on a rampage in Lilliput, St James on Saturday evening.

According to OBSERVER ONLINE police sources, the incident took place at approximately 7:00 pm at a community shop.

Dead is Cedric Brown, otherwise called ‘Simple’ of a Lilliput address.

Among the injured are a 34-year-old man, a 51-year-old woman and a 58-year-old man.

Unconfirmed reports are that the group of residents were standing at the shop when they were ambushed by gunmen who fired at them.

They were taken to the hospital where Brown was pronounced dead.

The Barrett Town Police are investigating.

When contacted by OBSERVER ONLINE, Councillor for the Rose Hall Division where Lilliput is located, Anthony Murray, condemned the shootings.

Murray, who represents the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), shared that he has been calling for more boots on the ground (police) in his division since last year.

“I am very concerned as it relates to the increase in the shooting and killing in my area. I must say also that prior to this escalation in shooting, I had reached out to the relevant authorities seeking intervention and asking for some level of proactivity….and now we are seeing where we have weekly shootings and killings in my division and it is really a concern,” Murray said.

“I know it is a concern that we are having an increase in crime and violence nationally, but if there was some level of proactivity, this could have been prevented and lives would have been saved in Lilliput last night,” he added.

Pointing out that his division has been plagued with shooting incidents, the councillor is begging for additional intervention by members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

“Over the last week, we have had more than five shootings between Spot Valley and Lilliput. It is really getting out of hand and I am going to ask that curfews be implemented or police come in regularly to do searches, but something needs to be done,” Murray told OBSERVER ONLINE.

“And I think this needs to be done with some level of force and alacrity because we need to save lives,” the Rose Hall Division councillor added.

Just last week 62-year-old Royston Richards otherwise called ‘Scabba’ was shot and killed by unknown assailants in the neighbouring Spot Valley.

According to police reports, Richards, who contested the East Central St James political seat as an independent candidate in the 2012 general election, was pounced upon by gunmen on January 4 while in his community.

The councillor further argued that his previous calls to the JCF for more policing in his division “fell on deaf ears”.

-Rochelle Clayton