BURNT SAVANNA, St Elizabeth — A man was shot dead in Burnt Savanna in the parish on Monday night but investigators are yet to determine a clear motive for the murder.

Police named him as Winston Gray, 55, a resident and farmer of Burnt Savanna district.

A police report said about 8:30 pm residents heard loud explosions and shortly after Gray was found on a road with what appeared to be gunshot wounds.

He was pronounced dead at hospital.

Statistics from the police show that up to May 10 St Elizabeth recorded five murders compared to 14 for the corresponding period last year.

Monday night’s incident increased to six the number of people killed in the parish so far this year.

A senior police source told the Jamaica Observer that a man was taken into police custody for questioning following the incident. The source also said detectives are following several theories to determine the motive for the killing.

“We know that he was to attend court today (Tuesday), but we want to question the man in custody as part of the investigation and we are looking at several theories,” said the source.

Councillor Christopher Williams (Jamaica Labour Party, Santa Cruz Division) said residents in Burnt Savanna are shocked as the area is a quiet community and the victim is well-known.

“This is news that we wish we didn’t wake up to, because we have been heading in the right direction as it relates to crime in our country and in the community of Burnt Savanna also. Over the past few years we didn’t have any murders, so this is something that is so unfortunate and we feel really sad about this,” he said.

“Persons in the community are very disappointed, based on the discussion that I have had, because we were basically enjoying the crime-free community for the past few years,” he added.

Statistics from the police show that up to May 10 murders were down by almost 39 per cent islandwide with 248 people being killed when compared to 406 for the corresponding period last year.

— Kasey Williams