RESIDENTS of Olympic Gardens in St Andrew said two men killed in the tough community Thursday by gunmen were innocent and hard-working members of the community.

Dead are Marlon Madourie, who turned 41 in December, and 48-year-old Wayne Smith. Madourie reportedly collapsed and died on the street after he was pelted with bullets, while Smith, who ran back inside the shop where he had been working, was chased by the gunmen and shot dead. The deceased were long-time friends.

Pointing to blood on the floor, the shopkeeper said he was distraught because of the incident.

Residents said Smith had been shot and injured about three months ago in the Hagley Park Road area of St Andrew, and that he had again been targeted yesterday while he was in conversation with his friend Madourie.

They speculated that the real target was actually a son of Smith’s, but because he was residing overseas they killed his father instead.

Meanwhile, a relative of Madourie said he had been on his way to work to cut a lawn but had stopped to talk to Smith, who had been working on a kitchen sink at a shop on Olympic Way. It is believed that he was simply at the wrong place when the gunmen struck.

When Madourie isn’t cutting lawns he sells jerk chicken, relatives said.

“He does, like, weed wacker work. He was at the wrong place at the wrong time. All we can do right now is sit and look. We already identified the body, and all of that. He has two sons and they are not taking it well. It just happened so we have to counsel them ourselves. This moment one naa cry and the next moment him will cry,” they said.

Residents, who referred to Smith as “Bun Dung”, insisted that he was no criminal, but a hard-working man who loved to give jokes.

“Mi nuh afraid fi tell you if him was a criminal,” one man said.

Another man told the Jamaica Observer he had heard the explosions and was shocked when he found out it was Smith, who had walked past him earlier.

“Him carry him car go drop off a him yard and him walk go back pon di main seh him ago do some work. He was so jovial, man.

“Bun Dung and Marlon know each other well. Dem a brethren like dat. A pon di front him deh a work. Nothing more than somebody see him and mek a call [because] dem shoot him last year but him never dead,” said the resident.