MONTEGO BAY, St James — The past week has been filled with sorrow and despair for Sophia Scott and her children. They are one of seven families who have lost everything they owned in a firebombing incident in Tucker, St James.

But that is not the only burden Scott has to bear. Just one day before the firebombing attack, her 24-year-old son Rexford Jarrett was gunned down in the neighbouring community of Granville. Another man, 29-year-old Orange Reid, was also fatally shot, while an off-duty policeman was injured during that Tuesday afternoon attack.

The mother of eight, who was also eight months pregnant at the time of both incidents, has since gone into labour due to the extreme emotional toll this has caused, her 23-year-old daughter Jantay Jarrett told the Jamaica Observer West.

According to police who were on the scene last Thursday, from as early as 9:00 pm on Wednesday residents were forced to take cover as armed thugs fired indiscriminately on sections of the community. Firefighters who responded to calls that a house and car were on fire were forced to flee because of heavy gunfire. They later returned after a strong contingent of police arrived and order was restored. However, by then four houses had been totally ravaged in the blaze while three others had been partially damaged.

A Toyota Voxy was totally gutted in the inferno while a Nissan AD Wagon motor car was partially damaged. There were no reported deaths or injuries.

Speaking on behalf of her mother, who told the Observer West that she has been overwhelmed and anxious since last Tuesday, Jarrett said their house was one of the four destroyed.

Luckily, the family was not inside the dwelling when it was set on fire during what has been dubbed “a night of terror in Tucker”.

“We lost everything because we were not in the house when it started burning down. We were next door talking. They would get electricity from us, so when we realised that the [electricity] went from their house we looked through the window and saw that our house was being burned down,” she told the Observer West.

“But we couldn’t go outside to try and save anything because gunshots were being fired,” she added.

Pointing out that the family has been left in a state of shock, Jarrett said that her mother has been experiencing extreme distress as not only did her other children lose all of their clothes and school supplies, but the baby items that were bought to welcome her newborn daughter have also been destroyed.

“All of this shocked us because we never expected this to happen. Everybody was traumatised from the afternoon when we heard that my brother died and then this happened. She bought everything for her baby but ended up losing everything in the fire… from the baby clothes to the [diapers],” she explained.

Jarrett further told the Observer West that the family is appealing for help as the children have been left with only the clothes on their backs.

“We would really appreciate it if people could give us some clothes or even material to make clothes,” said the grieving young woman.

She explained that her siblings include a five-year-old girl, an eight-year-old boy, a 14-year-old boy, a 13-year-old boy, and a three-year-old boy. The school-aged children also need uniforms and supplies for school, but they may all need counselling before heading back as they are mortified by the loss of their brother and the only place they have called home.

“They are all traumatised, but they are pretending to be fine. I know that they are not though, because they lost everything they owned,” she said.

Jarrett told the Observer West that she does not believe her family’s home was the sole target of the attack as “More than one house get burned down, so a nuff people lose everything right now.”

However, responding to rumours that new life has been breathed into an old feud between Granville and Tucker, a senior cop who visited the scene last Thursday said, “The incident is believed to be in retaliation to some murders that took place on Tuesday. The men were trailed from Tucker to Granville and shot there, but it’s not like Granville and Tucker men are at war. It seems to be Tucker and Tucker.”