WESTERN BUREAU

The community of Salt Spring in St James was the scene of a murder on Sunday night, in which a 23-year-old man was chased, shot and then tagged as a rapist by his killers.

'Raper, AIDS man, no violation to police'" read the tag recovered from the body identified as that of Ovan Anderson, a labourer of that com-munity.

Constable Ulette Lewis-Green told The Star that Anderson was sche-duled to appear before the Western Regional Gun Court in Montego Bay yesterday (Monday) where he had a matter pending. He was reportedly answering charges of wounding with intent, illegal possession of a firearm and robbery with aggravation.

170th person to be killed

Anderson is the 170th person to be killed in the parish of St James since January. A total of 132 murders were reported for the comparative period in 2007.

Reports are that about 8:45 p.m. Anderson was bathing at a standpipe near his home in Salt Spring when gunmen attacked him. It is said that he was chased and shot several times.

Last Friday night, two men were killed and two others injured by gunmen along a section of the Westgate main road in Montego Bay, St. James. The dead men have been identified as Albert Smith of Retirement, St. James, and 18-year-old Anthony Spence of Tucker in the parish.

Fired on by gunmen

Reports are that approximately 10 p.m. the men were fired on by gunmen travelling in motor cars.

"The fact is that they are not sure what happened," stated Deputy Superintendent Clinton Laing, crime officer for the Area One police. "One of the injured men said he was repairing his car when he heard shots and ran off. He later realised he was shot."

He added that "several empty casings were recovered at the scene, and we are still trying to ascertain what exactly transpired. However, we believe the genesis is gang warfare."