ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica— A woman was shot dead in the vicinity of a bar in Nain, St Elizabeth, on Wednesday night, leaving residents and a political representative there shocked and puzzled.

A source identified the woman as Latisha Green, otherwise called ‘Latty’, a bar operator and resident of Third Street in the Lititz district.

Preliminary reports are that sometime before 10:00 pm the woman was near a bar in Nain when a gunman attacked her, opening fire and hitting her multiple times. A man was also wounded in the gun attack.

The victims were taken to hospital, where Green was pronounced dead and the man admitted for treatment.

Police statistics show that this incident increases to four, the number of people murdered in St Elizabeth so far this year.

Councillor Layton Smith (People’s National Party, Myersville Division), expressed concern following the incident.

“The murder in the division last night comes as a surprise… We have to look at what is happening to make sure that we can keep the murder rate down,” he said.

“Murder is declining within the country, but we in St Elizabeth we can’t afford to have it going up again. We are calling on the police to do some thorough investigation and see if they can get to the bottom of this murder,” he added.

He said the incident is very worrying.

“It is a shock to the community, because nobody was looking for this. Things were quiet for months. Nobody heard anything about any violence within the area, and all of a sudden this comes out of nowhere, so it is really a cause for concern,” he said.

— Kasey Williams