FREE HILL, St Ann — After a thunderstorm scuttled plans for a march, a handful of residents in Free Hill, Bamboo, on Tuesday staged a protest against crime and violence after a triple murder rocked the community Sunday.

Residents, who said they have had enough, intend to march through the streets on Thursday.

Tuesday’s protest, by about 15 people, began about 10:30 am. Gathered outside a shop, they held aloft placards with phrases such as “Millions of mothers mourning”, “Babies need daddies”, and “Too much murder”.

Organiser Daisy “Jackie Roots” Blackwood marshalled the small group together for the protest.

“I was in on the first protest where a mother and her four children were slaughtered over in Cocoa Piece in Clarendon. We did the march from St William Grant Park to Mandela Park in Half-Way-Tree. It was very, very mournful and here we are doing it again — and I am afraid that we will be doing it over and over again if [murders] don’t stop,” she said.

The mother, who said she is also a caregiver for children with special needs, said she felt compelled to act.

“Every mother who mourns the brutal loss of a child, or children, or loved ones is mourning. And we are in solidarity; we are just mothers in mourning. We should have had a march from Free Hill to St Ann’s Bay but with this thunderstorm we are unable to march; nevertheless we are gathered here to send a message: ‘Please, mothers are mourning!’ ” she pleaded.

“So that’s why we are here, to beg people: ‘Stop the violence, stop the bloodshed, stop the careless killing of our children.’ Why kill a baby? What can a baby do to hurt you? What an old man is doing to hurt anybody? Just stop the killing,” she begged.

On July 18, 45-year-old chef Antria Rattary; Lawrence “Paul” Baddal, a farmer; and 13-year-old Mykah Bonitto were discovered slaughtered inside their Free Hill house. According to the police, all three had wounds to their upper body, including their necks. The bodies had what appeared to be knife and machete wounds.

Baddal was reportedly found lying on a sofa in the living room with his throat slashed, a machete in his lap and a knife in his right hand. Rattary and Mykah’s bodies were found in a bedroom in a pool of blood.

The police said there were no signs of a break-in. The bodies were allegedly found by a 15-year-old relative who also slept in the house the night before.

On Tuesday, a resident from the area who said he had known Rattary all her life, expressed joy at the planned march.

“Anytime that I am sick, she is the one that I see… Mi get all gunshot and see me yah [still alive]. A she who run to mi attention… so you must see me on Thursday, and I will be gathering more persons to be in this thing. I love this; this is what we want… I feel it [the deaths] in mi heart,” said the man who did not want to be identified by name.

The march has been planned to show that residents have taken a stand against crime and violence, to focus on the importance of domestic dispute resolution, and to highlight the effects of crime on families.