DEADLY MISSION
Gangsters on motorbike perpetrate brazen raid on rivals despite SOE
Published:Monday | February 3, 2025 | 4:43 PMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
Despite the imposition of enhanced security measures in the Corporate Area under a state of emergency (SOE), gangbangers on a motorcycle, armed with an assault rifle and a loaded pistol, carried out an attack on rival factions along a major roadway.
This bold assault, like several others across Jamaica in recent days, resulted in fatalities, but was reportedly thwarted by a brave Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldier, who paid the ultimate price in death.
The JDF private, 26-year-old Fernando Wayne Dixon of a Greater Portmore address in St Catherine, was driving an Audi SUV when it came under fire along Molynes Road in St Andrew.
Reports from the police suggested that Dixon manoeuvered the vehicle, striking and fatally injuring the attackers, 29-year-old Marlon Rattray, a taxi operator of a Maxfield Avenue address, and 25-year-old Shamar Foster, who lived on Spanish Town Road. The attackers were flung from their Honda motorcycle and died at the scene.
The police quickly arrived, seizing an M-16 rifle with a magazine containing 5.56 rounds and a Taurus pistol with two magazines.
Two other occupants of the Audi were shot and injured, while the police also detained two others, who are believed to be the intended targets of the attack. They are under investigation for possible ties to the Rome Gang in the St Andrew Central Police Division. They are also suspected of involvement in criminal activities in the Corporate Area.
Rattray and Foster were reportedly affiliated with the rival William Lane Gang based in the Kingston Western Police Division.
Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Michael Phipps, who currently oversees the police’s Area Four region, said the deadly incident may have been connected to a confrontation between rival gang members who attended the weekly Dolly Sundays event at Club Mecca at The Market Place on Constant Spring Road.
Phipps also stated that two men, known as ‘Mushy Bushy’ and ‘Wizzle’, were being asked to report the Half-Way Tree Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) by 6 p.m. yesterday. It is unclear whether they complied with the request.
Up to pres time last night, the JDF had not released any official statement regarding the death of Private Dixon.
In recent days, several deadly attacks have rocked Jamaica’s roadways. In the St Andrew North Police Division, investigators are probing the early-morning shooting of 12-year-old Kevaughn Fearon and the serious wounding of his mother, a 46-year-old businesswoman, along Lindsay Crescent in St Andrew last Friday. Fearon was killed, while his mother remains hospitalised in critical condition, having received gunshot wounds to the upper body.
The day after, in the Kingston Eastern Police Division, a man was fatally shot while driving along McWhinney Street. His vehicle crashed into a utility pole and caught fire. The police say the victim, who was driving a 2012 Toyota Premio motorcar, was burnt beyond recognition.
In response to rising violence last week, the Government imposed SOEs across four police divisions – St Andrew South, St Andrew Central, Kingston Western, and St Catherine South – stretching security resources across two parishes.
Up to January 25, Jamaica had recorded 58 murders – one fewer than over the corresponding period in 2024.