WESTERN BUREAU:

The homicide rate for St James was pushed to seven since the start of the year following yesterday's double murder of two women, who investigators say were shot execution style at the Ironshore Industrial Estate in Montego Bay.

Twenty-nine-year-old sales clerk Alcian Smith and her friend, Toni Noble, 25, both of a Lilliput address in the parish, were found about 1 p.m., each with a single gunshot wound to the mouth.

"It is still unclear as to the motive, and the investigators are still on the ground as we speak," Assistant Commissioner of Police Denver Frater, officer with responsibility for Trelawny, St James, Hanover and Westmoreland, told The Gleaner yesterday evening.

Reports are that Smith and Noble were found inside the Home Value Hardware at Ironshore Industrial Estate, near Flankers, where Smith was employed. Police say that residents reported hearing explosions about midday.

Two 9-mm spent shells were recovered at the scene of the murders.

Meanwhile, Divisional Detective Inspector Lloyd Campbell is appealing to persons with information on the murders to call the police at 119 or Crime Stop at 311.