Sheena Gayle, Freelance Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

As the crime wave continues to grip the country, gunmen shot six more persons, three fatally, in western Jamaica in just over a 16-hour period.

The first incident occurred in the quiet community of Georges Plain in Westmoreland, where 73-year-old businessman Alvis Lettman was shot five times at his supermarket on Wednesday evening.

The shooting, which occurred about 7:15 p.m., also claimed the life of 56-year-old Robert Guthrie, while a 34-year-old man was wounded.

"I get to understand that, after two men entered his store, one of them ordered some items. Shortly after that one of them pulled a gun and ordered my father to give them money and a gun. But my father does not own a firearm and they shot him five times," Elvis Lettman told The Gleaner.

Community activist

He described his father as a community activist and a kind individual who had lived in Georges Plain for 50 years.

"He was well known by everyone here and he would stop at nothing to extend kindness to his community at large," Lettman said.

Shopkeeper Angelina Cooper expressed similar sentiments about Alvis Lettman.

"A long time me know Mr Lettman an mi can't believe sey dem kill the man just so," she shared.

Lettman's attackers reportedly escaped with an unknown sum of money and a quantity of phone cards. Both Lettman and Guthrie were pronounced dead at hospital, while the injured man was admitted in stable condition.

On Thursday, the police were called to Cornwall Courts, near Green Pond, St James, after gunmen killed 43-year-old Crystal 'Bumpy' Sawyers of Salt Spring and injured another man.

Reports are that, about 10:45 a.m., Sawyers and a man were standing along Ramtallie Boulevard when a grey and white car carrying four men drove up to them. The men alighted from the vehicle, brandished guns and fired. Sawyers died on the spot. The car was later found burnt and abandoned in another section of the community.

Meanwhile, at 10:50 a.m., Larry Robinson, also known as 'Larry King', a 30-year-old accountant, was gunned down at his gate on Brown's Lane in Granville, St James. Investigators said his murder was linked to the lottery scam.