CAMPBELLTON, Hanover — The police have in their custody one of the prime suspects fingered in Thursday night’s bloodbath in this rural community, where ten members of a family were shot, six fatally, by gunmen who sprayed bullets on their five-bedroom board house, then firebombed it.
The suspect was handed over to the police by a relative late Friday afternoon, after the police went to his home and did not find him. Reports say that the police were preparing the process for an interrogation of the detainee, who had not been charged up to late yesterday.
The deceased have been identified as Linett Bloomfield, 62; Mark Bloomfield, 40; Brian Mangaroo, 29; Kerrian Bloomfield, 36; and her two children Alliah Mahabee, 17, and Davian Mahabee, 15.
Linett is the mother of Mark and Kerriann, while Brian is her nephew. The 62-year-old’s husband, said to be over age 70, is among the four hospitalised. The father of Alliah and Davian is also in hospital.
Reports are that members of the Hanover police division were summoned to the Campbellton community around 11 p.m. after residents reported that they heard a barrage of gunshots.
Upon their arrival in the community, the police team spotted a house engulfed in flames and the fire brigade was called in.
Firefighters, after carrying out cooling down activities, found the charred remains of six family members in the rubble. Four other occupants of the house who were severely burnt were rushed to the Noel Holmes Public General Hospital in the parish capital of Lucea, where they were admitted.
Up to late Saturday afternoon the police were still maintaining a strong presence in the troubled community where residents continue to reel from shock and disbelief over the action that they described as “heartless”.
In the meantime, some of the grief-stricken residents are pointing fingers at one of the victims, who is accused of being the target of the onslaught which claimed the lives of innocent family members.
“Everybody is saying because of that guy, the innocent people dead. Him and some people inna ‘ruption and I understand that them send threat that they are going to kill him,” a resident told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.
That theory was also put forward by police investigators.
The police confirmed that before the shooting ensued, the shooters called out two persons who were at the house, one of whom was among the six later killed, and another who was included in the four hospitalised.
During his visit to the community on Friday with Commissioner of Police Dr Carl Williams, Minister of National Security Peter Bunting appealed to community members that association with criminal elements can result in exposure to harm. (Observer)
Minister of National Security Peter Bunting meets residents of Campbellton, Hanover. (Jamaica Observer)
