DUNCANS, Trelawny — Grief-stricken family members and friends of 28-year-old Jason Trail and 26-year-old Andrae Dennis were on Sunday morning still trying to come to grips with Saturday night’s execution-style murder of the two farmers, when a loud explosion was heard near Trail’s home, causing those who massed in his yard to momentarily panic and scamper for cover.

They, however, realised that the explosion was not a gunshot, but was triggered by a Jamaica Public Service transformer.

Fresh in the minds of the bereaved gathering was the grisly shooting attack by men, donning army fatigue and brandishing handguns, who alighted from a white Toyota Voxy motor vehicle and pounced upon five men at Trail’s gate in a section of Duncans called Red Dirt. The gunmen ordered the five to kneel with their arms raised.

According to community members who claimed to be eyewitnesses, the gunmen demanded that the men hand over their wallets, cellular phones, driver’s licences, and any other form of identification.

The hoodlums reportedly took the identification cards to show to one of their cronies who remained inside the vehicle.

The shooters reportedly returned from the vehicle and started to spray bullets at the five kneeling men at point blank range. Trail, Dennis and two others were shot, but the fifth man managed to escape.

The injured were taken to hospital where the two farmers were pronounced dead on arrival and the two others admitted for treatment.

The residents, who contended that the deadly attack was a hit, strongly suspect that the order to shoot came from whoever remained inside the vehicle.

“It must be someone in the vehicle who tell the shooter them to open fire after they see the man dem picture,” one family member argued.

Another resident chimed in: “The shooters ordered them to kneel down and [put their] hands up. The shooters were dressed in soldiers’ clothes. In reflection, now we realise they weren’t real soldiers because they were all wearing sneakers.”

Both Trail and Dennis were described as hard-working men who reared cattle. Trail was said to be also involved in the construction industry.

“He was a hard-working young man,” said Denzil Trail, a distraught father whose face was contorted in grief as he burst out into tears.

Taneisha Trail, sister of the 28-year-old farmer, recounted that after he consumed a dish of white rice and stew peas hours before his death, he requested that their older sister repeat the meal for him the following day.

“When I left here our big sister cooked a big pot of white rice and stewed peas. And then he came and had his dinner and he requested more to be cooked on Sunday for him. Unfortunately, it never happened. That was his last meal. I don’t know how we are going to cope,” the bereaved sister said with a blank stare.

She added: “Jason is the second to last brother. He was very loving, fun and hard-working.”

Meanwhile, Andrea Melbourne, Dennis’ mother, said when her son prepared a late breakfast for her on Saturday, she did not have the slightest idea that it would be the last time he would be making breakfast.

“Andrae was a cool guy, jovial, patient. Me never know it was the last breakfast he was giving me yesterday (Saturday) morning. And the breakfast was after 12:00 noon, but it is just so we live. We share. He is loved by a whole heap of people. Everybody is calling me now and crying.”

She added: When I heard the gunshots I said to his brother, ‘where is Andrae’. So I called his phone but it went unanswered and then a little while after my brother came and asked me if I heard that Andrae got shot around the road.”