Nine persons killed in Westmoreland in one week

Dalton Laing, Gleaner Writer

The past six days have been among the bloodiest in Westmoreland since the start of the year with nine persons killed in seven incidents. The latest additions to the count came from three separate incidents in three villages in the parish.

Crime scene investigators had to go to the small community of Ketto to gather forensics regarding the death of a 26-year-old tiler, Jermaine Ricketts, who was shot and killed shortly after midnight yesterday.

Reports are that the gunman removed a sideboard from a small wooden house and fired at least eight shots at Ricketts. Three bullets caught him in the head and upper body, killing him in his bed. The police have not yet established a motive for his murder.

In Pipers Corner, two men were involved in a quarrel some minutes after 9 Wednesday night, which led to a fight. Knives were brought into play and the men stabbed each other several times all over their bodies. Forty-three-year-old Earl Slater, who was involved in the fight, ran some 300 yards and collapsed.

He was taken to the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The other man was admitted at hospital.

found by passer-by

In the third incident, 42-year-old Delroy Martin was found by a passer-by at Cornwall Mountain, suffering from gunshot wounds to his neck and upper arm around 6 a.m. Thursday along the roadway. Residents had heard gunshots around 12:30 a.m. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Earlier this week Ramona Roxburgh, 21, and her 47-year-old mother, Beverley Hamilton, were killed by security guard Roche Tomlinson, the boyfriend of Roxburgh who took his own life afterwards. Also Patrick Jackson was shot and killed while sitting in a bar at Strathbogie, and two 12-year-old girls died after being hit by a car in Waterworks.