Double murder shatters months of peace in Marverly

 

Six months of peace in Marverly, St. Andrew was violently shattered Monday afternoon after gunmen turned their weapons at a group of people, killing two of them, including a toddler, and wounding another. 

 

The deceased have been identified as two-year-old Tajaun Jackson and 25-year-old Kimalie Powell, otherwise called 'Beans', a business operator. 

 

They were killed after the occupants of a white Nissan AD Wagon fired on people seated on a bench in a lane along Grenmede Road. 

 

Another man was wounded in the attack and is being treated at hospital. 

 

Senior Superintendent Damion Manderson, Commanding Officer for the St. Andrew South Police Division, said the shooting resulted from long-standing conflict between rival gangs. 

 

"This we believe is stemming from years of gang situation between Top and Bottom Marverly that keep resurging in spite of the work that we have put in place. It has gotten better, the frequency and the magnitude of events over the years. It has gotten better, but we do believe that this is one too many. This is one more incident too many. This is one more child too many, one more family crying too many. And so we have put out our call-outs, just about everything we have in a bid to find the perpetrators of this crime and also to work with the community to heal and to restore calm and to restore peace here," he said. 

 

A resident of Marverly claimed the two-year-old was deliberately shot and killed after gunmen mistakenly believed he was the son of the man who was also murdered. 

 

The resident said the 25-year-old victim was her grandson, but he and the toddler were not related. 

 

"The person who do the shooting thought it was his baby and kill the baby on the spot.... They think it was my grandson child - which they came for him - because they ball out and say a him and him baby," she recalled. 

 

SSP Manderson is appealing to the suspect named in the shooting to surrender to the police.  

 

The Area Four Police on Tuesday named Courtney Ashley, otherwise called 'Bloodstain', 'Alien' and 'Biggs' as a suspect and indicated that he heads the St. Andrew South Police's most wanted list. 

 

"I'm being very instructive to him that wherever he is, to turn himself into the nearest police station so that the length of the law can have its course. He might not trust the police to bring him in, so we ask him to find a justice of the peace, find a teacher even, find a pastor, find somebody who he can trust and turn himself in to the police because we do believe that he is able to help us with these ongoing incidents here in Marverly," he urged.

 

He also appealed to members of the public not to harbour Mr. Ashley. 

 

SSP Manderson sought to assure residents that the police will maintain a presence in the community as he called for information in relation to Monday's shooting.

 

He also begged residents to be patient with the police as they enforce a 48-hour curfew in the community which will begin at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

 

The police are also seeking a person of interest who goes by the names 'Miller' and 'Max'.