Who`s who shot dead

[Q3210]

Today TVJ News carried a lead story that Lloyd Brown a former Gasolene Retailers Association executive was murdered at his uptown address.
Mr. Brown operated the Esso station at the corner of Dunrobin Ave. and Constant Spring Rd.

More of the big guys are being wasted following Mr Azan`s murder in May Pen.

[Q3210]

Re: Who`s who shot dead

Are they going to have more PSOJ protests and shut downs?
Mr. Bill Clarke CEO of Scotiabank Jamaica called for the dismantling of the Police force?
Jamaica has lost its bearings.
The PM remains locked safely away at Norbrook behind the gates of Uhuru and as usual his silence is DEAFENING and his actions, sheepish.

[Q3210]

Re: Who`s who shot dead

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20050606T040000-0500_81862_OBS_CONTRACT_HIT.asp

Contract hit
L G Brown, companion Sandra Campbell gunned down in bedroom
BY TANEISHA DAVIDSON Observer staff reporter
Monday, June 06, 2005



KINGFISH operatives last night were in hot pursuit of men they claimed to be the killers of gas station owner Lloyd 'LG' Brown and his female companion, businesswoman Sandra Campbell, both of whom were shot dead early yesterday on the upper floor of a home on Stilwell Road, Stony Hill.


LG Brown
The police injured one of the suspects and recovered a firearm, a .9mm pistol they said belonged to Brown. The injured man, Peter Dugal, is now in hospital under police guard.
Another man escaped.

Yesterday, residents of the normally quiet residential neighbourhood at Old Stony Hill Road, St Andrew, gathered under the window of the house at 29 Stilwell Road, to view the precarious mound on which the killers perched a ladder to reach the window from which they apparently shot their victims.

The ladder was placed under the open window on two sets of about six building blocks. Two pieces of wood lay atop of the blocks, either to provide additional height or stability.

Brown's sister broke down in tears, having arrived at the scene after the undertakers had moved the bodies. Brown, 62, according to the police, was a regular visitor to the house where Campbell, 44, lived.


The Esso service station at the corner of Dunrobin Avenue and Constant Spring Road, one of two stations owned by LG Brown. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Operation Kingfish spokesman Sergeant Steve Brown told the Observer last night that the killings were likely a contract hit. He said police found Brown's photo at a house in Vineyard Town where the alleged killers were found. The gas station owner's firearm was also recovered at the premises.

A firearm was also taken from Dugal, Sgt Brown said.
They found the house based on tips to the police.
The murders occurred around 4:00 am. A household helper heard a shot, said the Kingfish spokesman, and called the police.
"The bodies had single gunshot wounds," said Sgt Brown.

Yesterday, the family and friends desperately tried to keep the media out saying they wanted no publicity, but otherwise neighbours streamed in and out the property, most of them shocked by the news.
Brown's nephew, Steve James, said he also suspected that the murder was a paid contract killing.

"I can't believe this is happening," he said. "This country is getting from bad to worse."
James said the last time he saw his uncle was last Friday when they visited his mother's ill helper in the hospital.


Neighbours and family view a ladder supported by building blocks, which the police speculate that the killers used to gain access to the bedroom at 29 Stilwell Road where gas station operator Lloyd Brown and businesswoman Sandra Campbell were killed yesterday morning. (Photo: Karl McLarty)
"He was the person that everybody in the family went to for advice," James said. "We called him the lawyer because he liked to lecture you ... I am going to miss his advice."

Brown was a former popular president of the Jamaica Gas Retailers Association (JGRA), serving for two terms. He was the owner of two Esso service stations - at Red Hills Road and the corner of Dunrobin Avenue and Constant Spring Road. He is the father of two children - Donovan, 42 and Keena, who is in her 30s.

Campbell, who, friends said, operated ice cream stores on Red Hills Road and at Devon House in Kingston, also leaves two children - a daughter, Christina, 16, and a son Charles, whose age could not be ascertained.

Over a dozen cars belonging to family and friends lined the sidewalk and the inner driveway leading to the house, yesterday.
"Everybody is in grief and total shock," James, the nephew, said.
James also made an appeal to the public to come forward with any information.

"Anybody who knows anything, no matter how simple it is, must come forward and stop talking about 'informer fi dead' because it is getting too close to home," he said.
"I want the entertainers to take a stand and not just pay lip service," he said.

Yesterday, both of Brown's service stations, usually 24-hour operations, were closed in the afternoon. They re-open today at 6:30 am.

Supervisor for the LG Esso on Red Hills Roads Fitzroy Williams, who has worked for Brown for 13 years, said he found it difficult to cope with the death of his boss. "He was a good person," he said in a low voice. "We sympathise with the family."

[email protected]

[britisha]

Re: Who`s who shot dead

My God, this just doesn't get any worse...Way up there they went, way up in the burbs, way up on a ladder to gain entrance..the mention that this might be a contract killing is even more frightening. ***deep sigh***

[Q3210]

Re: Who`s who shot dead

They`re going for the big fish now, Britisha.

The following was taken from www.jamaicaobserver.com

A crisis of crime, a crisis of leadership
Monday, June 06, 2005



Yesterday's murder of Mr L G Brown, the former president of the Jamaica Gasoline Retailers Association (JGRA) and his companion, Sandra Campbell, further underlines the crisis of law and order that has enveloped Jamaica for a long time and has been pushing our country increasingly close to the precipice of failure.

Unfortunately, those in authority seem befuddled about how to respond, or, perhaps, worse have no sense of crisis. So they behave as if, or pretend it to be so, that these are normal times and that it is business as usual.

Today, should they not have the message, we wish to declare, to paraphrase the Guyanese poet, Martin Carter, that "these are dark times, my love".

Indeed, over the past decade, between 1994 and 2004, based on official figures, 9,865 Jamaicans were murdered. Last year alone, there were 1,471 - a new record, which is likely to be surpassed in 2005. So far this year, homicides are over 600.
Many other people have been shot and injured or otherwise wounded or maimed.

The victims of these crimes and the many Jamaicans who live in fear for their lives would be empathetic to Carter's characterisation of the circumstance about which he wrote as being "a festival of guns, a carnival of misery".

We need not be reminded that crime and criminal violence in Jamaica is a complex one that requires multi-sectoral interventions and national unity.
We know!

But what we also know is that to pull the country back from the brink of failure as a state demands a strong, and moral, leadership. That, to our mind, is the greatest failure in our response to the jackbooted terror that stomps the land and invades our dreams of better.

As these columns have stressed so often, and on which we believe there is wide concurrence, this epidemic of crime and crisis which we now face was exacerbated by the emergence of a political culture rooted in violence.

The process, for its sustenance, spawned the so-called garrisons, zones sanitised of political opponents to ensure the hegemony of this or that political party. The political cleansing, of course, was accomplished with guns and maintained by party operatives and enforcers.

With the retreat of the state, with its lack of resources, many of these enforcers have emerged as independent operators who maintain a relationship with their parties. The garrisons provide physical and psychological cover for their criminal enterprises and the foot soldiers.

Removing the garrisons as havens for the criminals demands, in the first instance, the political liberation of these communities. Which has to start with politicians eschewing all knowing relationships with dons, enforcers and other corrupt and criminal personalities.

Political leadership have to be willing to shed the fig leaf of legalism about who may or may not have been convicted of crime in defence of the personalities from whom they accept support in constituencies or who are allowed inside or on the periphery of the parties.

If, for instance, persons who may have been convicted of corruption and are subsequently accused of further corrupt acts, can, despite their reputations, find places in the highest councils of political parties then political leadership loses the moral authority to stare down, and slay, this monster we face.
That is another crisis which we face.

[Q3210]

Re: Who`s who shot dead

All we are saying, is give peace a chance.

Our crime crisis if it is left to the journalists, verandah discussions and a song written by Lennon/ McCartney will continue unabated.
Add the to the solution, corrupt policemen and women. We`re getting hot.
If no solution, try our capable politicians whose immpecable and unquestioned status of honesty and strong leadership, especially by example we have nothing to worry about and we all are barking up a wrong tree, Illusionary eediats we are.

[britisha]

Re: Who`s who shot dead

Ahhh, Mr. Q..I wonder, oh how I wonder where did we go wrong..Jamaica is just one tiny little island that had shared the colonial experience, that the majority are grass roots people, but so it is in many other little islands, so where did we go wrong? These numbers to say the least are frightening..

It would seem to me that if you have acquired "two shillings" to rub against each other from hard work and even sacrifices, there are those waiting in the wings to snuff you out and rob you..this is why many who have migrated are AFRAID TO RETURN. What is this saying?

I am sure that as I here typing, many are afraid, many who stayed behind so that they wouldn't be slaves in other people's lands..yes, I used the word "slave"..are now wondering if it was a wise decision.

We need not be reminded that crime and criminal violence in Jamaica is a complex one that requires multi-sectoral interventions and national unity

This is an understatement..For a society that is predominantly black, and yes the poorer of all the ethnic groups, I still cannot fathom how we could hate each other to the extent that we kill without batting an eyelash.

WE need new leaders, we need new visionaries, for Gaawd knows, those who are leading us don't seem to have the answers.. being redundant here; we need a new mental awareness, a new consciousness, and UNITY as the quote suggests, even if we don't like each other or agree..we have to put Jamaica first before self..and this includes the affluent and those in power to see "all for one and one for all."

Is Jamaica wi talking bout, not you nor me, not him nor her..we are all in the same boat, if it sinks we all go down with it, and sinking it seems to be.

[palmetto1966]

Re: Who`s who shot dead

Sandra Hardie-Campbell was my cousin. That this has hit so close to home again only reinforces my despair that Jamaica will ever be able to save itself. Jamaica’s collective grief is unbearably heavy.

There is talk that Jamaicans are only now protesting because the crime is reaching the middle classes more and more, and this may be so. The lower classes suffer their losses with a sense of hopelessness, coupled with a fear of retribution from those who would commit these crimes. The middle class is still outraged enough to speak out, and I think that is one little candlelight in all this darkness. If somebody doesn't keep shouting, who will remember all those who have been murdered in the past 3 decades in our homeland?

I read an article in the Observer, and though I tend to dismiss much of what America thinks is good for the Caribbean, I was struck by the idea from Kathleen Kennedy-Townsend. It reminded me of when we had "Youth Service" in Jamaica in the 1970s, where the two years after graduation was mandated as re-payment for education received. I heartily agree with her that instilling a sense of civic duty in our young people is the only way we can mute the horror from the collective psyche of our country.

Now if only we could find the leadership to enforce it…..

Kennedy-Townsend suggests mandatory service to combat crime

Observer Reporter
Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Kathleen Kennedy- Townsend (right) in conversation with Alvaro Casserly, chairman of United Way of Jamaica, and Pat Ramsay, chairman of Women's Leadership Initiative, at a luncheon at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

KATHLEEN Kennedy-Townsend, daughter of late former United States attorney-general Robert Kennedy and niece of late former president John F Kennedy, is advising Jamaica to fight crime with mandatory community service for young people, saying it is a key strategy for reversing social decay and spurring development.

Kennedy-Townsend, who is also a former lieutenant governor of Maryland, said the enforcement of community service has been shown to instil, in the young, a sense of moral responsibility, thereby helping to combat crime, drug abuse and other social ills in the state.

Addressing the first anniversary luncheon of the Women's Leadership Initiative at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston Monday, Kennedy-Townsend described the main challenges as apathy and the need to foster self-motivation.

These challenges, she added, were not peculiar to the United States.

"The challenge and the mission for each of us is to find out who we really are and determine first a personal vision for ourselves, and then a vision for the wider community," she said.

She added that it was especially critical for women, who have traditionally been told that their only role in society is that of mother and homemaker, to see how they can play a greater role in the community.

Kennedy-Townsend gave an anecdote of her grandmother, the late Rose Kennedy, who throughout her life harboured an unfulfilled desire to pursue higher education. "Though highly intelligent, she, like most of the women of her day, were subject to those messages that society sends to women," she said.

The Women's Leadership initiative is an outreach of the United Way of Jamaica and was convened under the auspices of former US ambassador Sue Cobb.

[barosa]

Re: Who`s who shot dead

We need not be reminded that crime and criminal violence in Jamaica is a complex one that requires multi-sectoral interventions and national unity

I agree with you brits, that "This is an understatement" fi true!.. I would like to say this, to understand why there is all this killing and yes from the the predominantly black and poorest of all ethnic groups, we have to look back at a time when they were children. There maybe a component of hatred there, but I believe there are many other factors.

Those that have been exposed to a life of Guns and Crime are conditioned from childhood to that culture. If they were associated with garrisons, Gangs, or common criminals, it stands to reason, they will become criminals themselves or as it now seems, "assasins" for hire. We have NOW crossed the rubicon... These types are "fearless", they know nothing else and will kill for dollars as a means to survive! They are like "wild animals" in the jungle that kills their prey and it has less to do with hating their victims. They do so, as they think it's their "right in making a living"... Remember what our Security Minister warned us about, not too long ago.?

On the other hand, Jamaicans who would be victims of crime, during these many years, have become more and more de-sensitized to murder and death by having to live with it. They have seen and heard about the high murder rates, experienced the climate of violence, the fear of gunmen, gangs, and robbers that they have come to expect it. The sad thing about this type of "killings" is, that 30 years ago this would not have happened in Jamaica... It is happening NOW, because more high calibre, high powered guns of all descriptions are available to the CRIMINALS... In that society, no one is really safe anymore. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

I am sorry, but I BLAME our Governments both past and present... They dropped the ball and know not how to recover it... Its a SHAME! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

-------------------
We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future : FDR

[RichD]

Re: Who`s who shot dead

The sad thing about this type of "killings" is, that 30 years ago this would not have happened in Jamaica...

i dissagree...this type of thing has been a staple(as common as it is now) in jamaica from way back

[britisha]

Re: Who`s who shot dead

Originally posted by RichD:
[qb]

The sad thing about this type of "killings" is, that 30 years ago this would not have happened in Jamaica...

i dissagree...this type of thing has been a staple(as common as it is now) in jamaica from way back [/qb]

What yuh mean Rich?

Not so, thirty years ago I DOUBT that this would happen in Jamaica. What one has to take in consideration is the socio-political climate that existed then. It is a different Jamaica we are talking about..as my girlfriend said her brother toldher..."noh think seh di Jamaica whey yuh lefff when yuh go whey a di same Jamaica now.."

Thirty yeas ago, <ul type="square">[*]people could walk all bout a Kingston and noh fraid, even a night.[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years ago roving bands of criminals were not pouncing on others, kicking down their doors and shooting ppl in their beds, including children.[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years ago there was still some respect for law and order, gun men existed but they were not bold enough to take on the police in shootouts as they are doing now.[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years the influx of criminal foreigners, those associated with the trade in the white stuff was not prevalent in Jamaica.[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years ago the unemployment rate was not as ***-tronomical as it is today.[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years ago words like "don" and "extortion" were not a part of our everyday vernacular.[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years ago, the average Joe Blow criminal didn't own a gun, couldn't rent a gun[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years ago many would think twice before selling their souls to the devil.[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years ago we didn't have a generation that was raised in an environment where warfare and strife was occcured with such frequency..[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years ago the population was far less than it is today, not so many fighting over scraps and spoils[/list]
...and the list goes on and on..

Yes, any businessman could've been killed thirty years ago, but note that this is allegedly a "contract" killing..thirty years ago, most Jamaicans wudda ask, a wha name soh? Now nobaddie noh haffi spell and guess, even di babe on breast hip to dem yah sinting now...Bad man did deh bout fram time immemorial, but demyah breed a bad man a different breed, bad man who wi kill dem owna moddas hiff dem cross dem..is different times wi a deal wid now. Jack Mandorah, mi nuh choose none.

[palmetto1966]

Re: Who`s who shot dead

britisha, while what you've said is mainly true, it was just about 30 years ago that the violence exploded in Jamaica. I won't forget the palpable fear everywhere when Leo Henry and Paul Fitz-Ritson were both killed 2 weeks apart in 1974. (I always heard it said those were "contract killings", too).

I remember living in Mona in the late 60s/early 70s and one day hearing of a robbery that had taken place a few streets over. The men had taken a woman in her house and (gasp!) tied her up with rope in a chair, then ransacked her house, robbing her. We talked about it for weeks.... what was Jamaica coming to that a person wasn't even safe from ruffians in their own house? Now we long for those days again....

Things changed very dramatically after the PNP took power in 1972, and we even had an amnesty where private citizens were asked to bring in their guns. By the time the Gun Court Act was established in 1974, the government seemed confident that the "bad eggs" could all be housed in that one little compound on South Park Camp Road. All for nought. And since then, the criminals have gone from strength to strength, backed by corrupt politicians and members of the security forces.

So, while it's true that 30 years ago we could never have conceived of 784 murders in 5 months, the horror had already started, and what was happening then we couldn't have imagined in our worst nightmares before, either.

The question is.... when are we going to stop being horrified and start seeking solutions that make a difference?

[britisha]

Re: Who`s who shot dead

Palmetto1966, good response. I concur from the little that I know that things were changing for the worse in Jamaica. I remember on one visit, I think in around 1975 where I met someone at one of the hotels who told me that the entire top floor was designated for a politician and he was a part of a group that was ready to "defend" to paraphrase..."by any means necessary.." I don't wish to go into any more detail. This was at breakfast where he joined me uninvited..suffice it to say, I checked hout dah same day for I had the feeling that a serious rumble could be in the making. In spite of that, I have visited numerous times and without any fear..last year I had to go home, and dared not go to Kingston for the first time in decades, out of fear.

I have some knowledge that criminal activities were taking on a different proportion.the reason for my last post is this..this was NOT staple in Jamaica..while the murder of this man could've been committed, it was NOT an everyday occurrence as we agree on. Now, in the last four years we've heard of countless numbers of people in position who have been murdered...[remember Ms. Playfair the atty in her office,] but these were few and far between..no?

I think this part of your post solidifies what I am saying

I remember living in Mona in the late 60s/early 70s and one day hearing of a robbery that had taken place a few streets over. The men had taken a woman in her house and (gasp!) tied her up with rope in a chair, then ransacked her house, robbing her. We talked about it for weeks.... what was Jamaica coming to that a person wasn't even safe from ruffians in their own house? Now we long for those days again....

Not to downplay your point, but if that had been today, I can bet the farm that they would've killed her!! Longing for those days aawrite when robbers would only rob you, now they KILL in cold blood, without batting an eyelash. In the future, we will never long for days like these, never.

The question is.... when are we going to stop being horrified and start seeking solutions that make a difference?

I don't know how long you've been on this board but this topic, ie solutions, have been hashed and rehashed to the point of redundancy..now some of those posters who participated in those threads have disappeared from the site..as for me I've talked out my "soulcase" and am more than willing now to listen to what others have to offer in that dere department.

[RichD]

Re: Who`s who shot dead

Originally posted by britisha:
Thirty yeas ago, <ul type="square">[*]people could walk all bout a Kingston and noh fraid, even a night. well maybe some parts...but to my recollection it was already getting bad...in 1976 my family was thinking of migrating [/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years ago roving bands of criminals were not pouncing on others, kicking down their doors and shooting ppl in their beds, including children. but every day you heard " dat dem come in pan so an so an rob dem" next ting yu see the house empty and di people dem migrate[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years ago there was still some respect for law and order, gun men existed but they were not bold enough to take on the police in shootouts as they are doing now.my uncle was in the JDF back then and had been mobilzed to some troble areas..the stories he tells differ from this significantly.....one in particular following the orange street fire they followed some men into an area and were greeted by withering fire from a heavy calibre machine gun had them pinned down for hours[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years the influx of criminal foreigners, those associated with the trade in the white stuff was not prevalent in Jamaica.[/list]
back then it was the green stuff managed locally
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years ago the unemployment rate was not as ***-tronomical as it is today. will have to verify this...but i suspect that it was in the same order....(back then a gardener was making about $30 a week)[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years ago words like "don" and "extortion" were not a part of our everyday vernacular.[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years ago, the average Joe Blow criminal didn't own a gun, couldn't rent a gun[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years ago many would think twice before selling their souls to the devil.[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years ago we didn't have a generation that was raised in an environment where warfare and strife was occcured with such frequency..[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Thirty years ago the population was far less than it is today, not so many fighting over scraps and spoils agreed...abut 2.1 million vs the 2.7 million today[/list]
...and the list goes on and on..

Yes, any businessman could've been killed thirty years ago, but note that this is allegedly a "contract" killing..thirty years ago, most Jamaicans wudda ask, a wha name soh? Now nobaddie noh haffi spell and guess, even di babe on breast hip to dem yah sinting now...Bad man did deh bout fram time immemorial, but demyah breed a bad man a different breed, bad man who wi kill dem owna moddas hiff dem cross dem..is different times wi a deal wid now. Jack Mandorah, mi nuh choose none.

well i have a family member who was killed in a contract killing back in 1985....and i gaurantee you that was not a unique situation

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Who`s who shot dead

Originally posted by RichD:
[qb]well i have a family member who was killed in a contract killing back in 1985....and i gaurantee you that was not a unique situation [/qb]

Leo Henry & Paul Fitzritson (that caused the establishment of the Gun Court)
Ted Ogilvie
Claudie Massop
Zeeks older brother...I can't remember is name just now.
Cow

In the 70s there were many contract killings mainly done by the police on behalf of politicians.