Weekend shooting in Paul’s Avenue leaves three dead

The bloodletting for which Paul’s Avenue is now known continued last Saturday, November 30, 2024, with a mass shooting that left four men injured, three of whom died.

An eyewitness, who had to scamper to safety, told SEARCHLIGHT that sometime after 4:00 a.m., two masked men approached a group of persons and opened fire, killing two men on the spot and wounding two others, one of whom died at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH) on Sunday, December 1, 2024.

Killed in the gun attack were Laurence “Bullo” Warren, a 53-year-old cart man of Paul’s Avenue; Don Ashton, a 44-year-old labourer from Ottley Hall; and Alston “Red Ants” Henry of Diamond. Lasanna Watson was grazed and survived. This is the biggest mass shooting resulting in deaths here for 2024, bringing the homicide count to 49.

The shop in front which this recent shooting took place is the same one where Jawanza “Sanga” Fraser is said to have been standing when he was shot and killed on Friday, September 20, 2024.

The area, known for crack cocaine and marijuana sales, is also the same area in which multiple shootings have taken place in the past, including the mass shooting on Friday, July 19, 2024, in which six persons were injured.

The eyewitness told SEARCHLIGHT that the men who were shot, were all drug users, and also in the group was a taxi-operator and two females who frequent the area, among others.

Reports are that at least two of the victims may have seen the masked assailants approaching and shouted “mask man” in an attempt to alert the group that danger was afoot.

Police are investigating the latest homicides, believed to be linked to several other shootings throughout the mainland involving warring factions from Murray’s Village, Edinboro, Ottley Hall, Rose Place, Glen and Paul’s Avenue.

Several persons from different villages are currently on remand and awaiting trial in relation to some of these killings.