Prime Minister Bruce Golding (right) and attorney-at-law Tom Tavares-Finson (second left) speak to one of the two women who live in the house in Tivoli Gardens, west Kingston, where five men were killed by the security forces on Sunday. In the background is Lloyd Nelson, owner of the house. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Prime Minister Bruce Golding is recommending a coroner's inquest be held to determine how five men were killed by members of the security forces in Tivoli Gardens, west Kingston, on Sunday.

"It would be necessary for us to secure as early a coroner's inquest as possible," Mr. Golding said in a statement issued last night.

"Inquiries must be made to determine the circumstances in which these men were killed and, naturally, the report of the pathologist and the independent observer will be very germane and of material importance to the coroner's inquest," the Prime Minister said.

The scent of stale human blood permeated the air yesterday at Keith Avenue in Tivoli Gardens, where the five men were killed.

Tivoli residents have said the shooting was yet another assault on their community by the security forces.

Yesterday afternoon, Mr. Golding, the Member of Parliament for the area, visited Keith Avenue, where the shooting took place.

Controversial shooting

Accompanied by Tivoli Gardens' councillor, Desmond McKenzie, the Prime Minister walked the death zone for himself.

A ransacked room, stained with blood and littered with bullet marks in the walls, greeted him when he entered the two-bedroom house.

However, it was not until the Prime Minister climbed a narrow, red staircase and headed to the second floor that the magnitude of the shooting may have caught his eyes.

The sunlight shining through several bullet holes in the room patterned the entrance to the room, while numerous holes in the walls told the story of the shooting.

"Be careful where yuh a put yuh foot sar, a pure blood inna dem things," the owner of the house, Lloyd Nelson, told Mr. Golding.

Displaced occupants

By looking at the marks left by the gunshots, attorneys-at-law Tom Tavares-Finson and George Soutar gave their theory, on where the shots were coming from, to Mr. Golding.

"What I saw at the house, which is pretty much in the same state that it was in when the men were killed, raises questions that must be answered," Mr. Golding said in his statement.

While in the community, the Prime Minister took the time to ensure that the two women and one child who occupied the house would have somewhere to live until it was once again available.

The Bureau of Special Investigations, which looks into police shootings, and Public Defender Earl Witter, also visited the house yesterday.

- D.L.