Two shot dead while playing dominoes at shop in Glen

The tradition of liming at a village shop and engaging in what could be considered community building, may soon become an endangered activity, following a series of shootings at these establishments in recent times.

This country recorded its 27th and 28th homicides for 2014 last Sunday night, with the deaths of Ricardo Haynes and Grafton Richards,{{more}} after gunmen opened fire on a group of men who were playing dominoes at a shop in Glen; the fifth such occurrence in the past six months.

Three other men, names given as Michael Richards, Kervorn Roberts and Charles Baptiste were also shot, but were taken to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital where they are being treated for their injuries.

When SEARCHLIGHT visited the scene shortly after the men were gunned down, police had begun their investigations, while neighbours, family members and friends of the victims gathered behind police lines.

An individual close to one of the dead men told SEARCHLIGHT that between 9:30 and 9:45 p.m., gunshots were heard in another part of the village, and then shortly after, two masked gunmen approached on foot and began shooting at the unsuspecting men at the shop.

The individual said that after the shooting started, some of the men scrambled for safety in the house adjoining the shop.

Haynes, a 21 year old labourer affectionately known as “Rico”, succumbed to the gunshots he received, in a bedroom of the house. He was still clutching some of the dominoes in his hands when he died.

53 year old Richards, who was employed as a male attendant at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, died in the living room of the house.

The individual SEARCHLIGHT interviewed and other people in the area said that they heard more than two dozen shots being fired at the men.

A series of shootings in Glen and surrounding areas in recent times has caused police to step up patrols and presence in the area.

Six men have been killed in Glen and Fair Hall since the beginning of the year. Also for the year, five of the men, including Richards and Haynes have been killed while liming at shops.

On August 15, Wilford Woodley was gunned down while at a shop in Belair, and Dwayne Robertson and Benjamin Jackson were killed at a shop in Evesham on July 14.

Other men were injured by gunshots at shops, including Garvette Foster, who was injured in the incident in which Woodley died.

In Sion Hill on July 20, Byron Browne and Kingsley Thomas were injured by gunshots, Dion Durrant and Dominic Grant were injured in the Robertson/Jackson shooting, and on February 7, Dorcy Nichols and Kenville were both shot while liming at a shop in Glen. (JJ)