WESTERN BUREAU:

LIKE COWBOYS of the 'wild, wild West', gunmen carrying nine-millimetre weapons sprayed patrons at a party on Perry Street, downtown Montego Bay, yesterday morning, leaving three dead and three nursing gunshot wounds.

Two hours later, a building contractor became the fourth victim when gunmen shot him in a drive-by shooting at his gate on Thompson Street, close to the first incident.

The dead are 25-year-old fisherman Kreston 'Frisco' Brown, 27-year-old car-wash operator Trevon 'Parrie' Chambers, of Cyril Gully, and 17-year-old Kyles Tucker, a former student of Holmwood Technical High School, and of Perry Street.

The fourth man, 47-year-old Keith Miller, was shot while exercising at his gate, eyewitnesses say.

This is the fifth murder to hit downtown Montego Bay in three days, breaking the relative calm since the start of the year.

Party invaded

Reports are that at 3:45 a.m., five men, in a white Toyota RAV4 and a silver Toyota Corolla motorcar, invaded a party that was in full swing at Perry Street. The men alighted from the vehicle, went directly to the three men, opened fire hitting them all over their bodies. While making their escape, the men fired wildly, hitting three other patrons, who have since been admitted to the hospital.

When The Sunday Gleaner visited the scene yesterday morning, the mood was solemn and a tense calm hung over the community. Remnants of a night of terror were evidenced by blood stains on the roadways and motor vehicles.

Expressing shock at what took place, Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Charles Sinclair, who was visiting the victims' relatives, described the situation as an unfortunate one.

"What happened here is unacceptable," he stated, urging those with information to come forward, either to him or the police. The mayor added that in the past couple of months, there had been no flare-up in hotbeds such as Norwood, Flankers and Granville.

Janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com