WESTERN BUREAU:

Investigators are still trying to establish the motive behind yesterday's killing of two brothers by gunmen at Salt Spring, St. James.

The dead siblings have been identified as 27-year-old taxi operator Owen Crawford and 32-year-old Donald Crawford, unemployed, both of Quarry in Salt Spring.

Police say residents reported hearing explosions about 3:00 a.m. The bodies were found about three hours later, metres apart in close proximity to their house. They had multiple gunshot wounds.

"It look like a M-16 them turn on them. Them really do them bad," one resident commented.

Unrest

The Gleaner has learnt that there have been several flare-ups in the area since the police increased their patrols in the neighbouring violence-prone community of Norwood.

The double murder, the fourth in three weeks, has pushed St. James' murder figure to 109 since the start of the year.

Brutal attack

The killings come on the heels of Wednesday's gun attack on 30-year-old barber Dwayne West, at his home in Glendevon, St. James.

He was gunned down about 4:00 a.m. when two armed men kicked open the door to his house where he was sleeping with his six-year-old mute brother.

West was shot twice by his attackers and died on the spot.

Meanwhile, investigators are awaiting an autopsy to determine the cause of death for 38-year-old Maxwell 'Bauyee' Wright, whose decomposing body was found in Green Pond, St. James, on Tuesday.

Reports are that about 10:30 a.m. residents stumbled upon the body in bushes near his home at Golden Heights, Green Pond.