A four-year-old boy was forced to watch as gunmen pumped three bullets into his grandmother as she was about to take him out of her vehicle in Boundbrook, Portland, on Saturday.

Merlene McDonald, 50, was brutally gunned down outside her home shortly after 10 p.m. Her grandchild was not hurt during the incident.

Detective Inspector Jervis Moore of the Port Antonio police said the businesswoman drove up to her house at about 10:20 p.m. with the child in a white Toyota Harrier sport utility vehicle.

"Upon entering her gate, she honked her horn, as it is customary," he said. "She exited the vehicle to retrieve her grandson when she was shot three times in the head."

Police said people who heard the explosions went to investigate and found McDonald lying in a pool of blood. "A man who detained yesterday in connection with the killing was released.

McDonald and her husband operated a chain of supermarkets and wholesales on West and Blake streets in Port Antonio. The killing brings the number of persons murdered in the parish since January to seven.

Up to late yesterday, police had neither established a motive for the killing nor identified any suspects.

Family members were too distraught to speak with THE STAR, but one woman said she heard the explosions and saw two men running from the scene. The men boarded a waiting motor car which sped off.

- G.D.