TUESDAY’S murder of 60-year-old Roosie Henry in Hannah Town, Kingston, has triggered outrage among residents who have decried what they label as the inability of the security forces to put an end to a prolonged gun war between men from their community and Denham Town.

Henry, a carpenter by trade, had just completed his duties on Tuesday evening at his woodwork shop on Oxford Street in Hannah Town when he decided to take an outdoor bath before heading home to Spanish Town, St Catherine. According to relatives, Roosie had a good relationship with the residents of Denham Town, especially the women, and, as a result of this, he would always go over to that community which is separated from Hannah Town by a gully.

The Jamaica Observer was told that Roosie even set up an outdoor pipe on the Denham Town side for the residents to use. Whenever he needed a bath, he would go to and from Denham Town via the gully.

His relatives shared that on Tuesday, after bathing, he attempted to make his way back to Hannah Town, when he was shot multiple times in the back, allegedly by a gunman from Denham Town.

Hannah Town residents took to the streets on Wednesday to voice their frustration in the form of a protest. They demanded that a police station be rebuilt in the community. In 2010, during the security force’s incursion on West Kingston, the Hannah Town Police Station was destroyed by fire. The community has been without a police station since then.

One resident insisted that if the police station was still around and security forces had boots on the ground, less shootings and killings would occur.

“When dem come fi do dem wrongs and know seh station deh right deh suh and police a patrol, dem woulda think twice. A man would know that if him come, him a take serious risk with him life. Everybody willing to come together and help build back the station. Every other station that was burnt down in the incursion were fixed. A 13 years now the station burn down. A man died over Denham Town, so Roosie killing is like a reprisal. Everyday him and the girls from Denham Town talk. Him always over there. When di pipe not working, a him fix it.”

Another resident said Roosie did not deserve this kind of death.

A female relative of Roosie shared that the family is devastated. She said it was time for the war between the two communities to stop.

“The family is devastated. A long time da war yah a gwaan. We had to protest. Nothing is here. There is no joy. It is just sad. The only time we really see the police come around is when man dead. This is one of the longest wars in Hannah Town, and a mostly innocent people a dead and nothing is being done. What will the Government do for us? Poverty already have us in a bad position and now gunman have us on edge,” the woman said.

A male resident commented that he wondered aloud what Jamaicans were paying high-ranking police officers for, if crime can be allowed to go on without an end in sight.

Senior Superintendent of Police Michael Phipps, who heads the Kingston Western division, told the Observer on Thursday that there is an intra-gang within the Hannah Town-based Upsetta gang. This conflict has caused some of its members to forge partnerships with other gangs in Denham Town.

“We are doing increased patrols and operations where we target violence producers. We will be doing some covert activities and we will be working closely with the community. We have a list of persons of interest,” he said.