WESTERN BUREAU:

One of three alleged gunmen who held a man hostage inside his house at Irwin, St James, Tuesday was fatally chopped and stabbed by angry residents.

Police sources confirmed that the dead man and his cronies were residents of Paradise, Norwood, in the parish.

One of the other gunmen turned up at the Cornwall Regional Hospital with chop wounds to his head and body and is being held under police guard.

Police and residents busily combed bushes in search of the third man.

"The man who escaped is a dangerous guy because we know him from this area and he said he was involved in the murder of police 'Ragga' (Constable Cornel Lewis) last November," one resident told The Gleaner.

Stone Crusher Gang

"While they were in the house, they also claimed they were members of the notorious Stone Crusher Gang."

Amid mid-afternoon rains, residents of the quiet community of Church Road in Riverside, Irwin, came out in droves to view the body of one of the alleged gunmen, as it lay sprawled on the wet surface with multiple stab and chop wounds.

It is understood that, some time after 3:00 p.m., the three gunmen entered a house, held up a young man and demanded ransom from his relative for release.

Incidentally, one of the gunmen had previously lived at the same house, The Gleaner has been told.

Police say the hostage ordeal lasted about two hours. The gunmen, after contacting a relative several times and demanding varying sums of money, ransacked the house and stole alcoholic beverages from a refrigerator.

Residents alerted the police about the hold-up and a team was dispatched to the area. While the police and residents were closing in on the men, they fled from the house in different directions but were chased and two of the men, chopped.