QUESTIONS ARE now being asked if the killing of a forty-two-year-old labourer in the New Nursery district outside Spanish Town has any connection with the investigation of a recent murder.

Howard Bryan was asleep at home at 12:45 p.m. yesterday when two men entered the premises shouting, "Weh the bwoy deh? Weh the bwoy deh?" They kicked open the door and shot and killed Bryan while he slept.

"Ah don't know if it have anything to do with the killing of the man at the bus depot di other day, as we were asked to remove our stalls from the front of the area. It really rough," remarked a female relative of the deceased.

shop close to depot

The Gleaner was told that Bryan, who operated a shop in front of the depot, had witnessed the killing of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) chairman, Douglas Chambers. When asked if the deceased was giving information to the police about the incident, the relative replied: "I see them (the police) talk to him, but I am not sure if he was giving a statement."

The area that is next to the JUTC bus depot is once again plunged into fear. Several persons said yesterday that they wanted to move out of the community, as Bryan and his family had been living there since 1980 and this was not the first gruesome incident that had affected the family in recent times.

"In 2004, gunmen killed my father, Walford Lingard, and my brother, Patrick Lingard, before they were to appear in court. And I don't know why they are trying to kill off my family," remarked Bredgette Lingard, who claimed that Bryan had been raised by her family.

woman, daughter killed

Meanwhile, Salt Spring district in St James was shrouded with anguish and shock yesterday when residents were awakened by reports of the bizarre murder of 28-year-old Sasha Rose-Ann Houston and her eight-year-old daughter, Whitney Rose-Ann Nelson.

Investigators at the Montego Bay Criminal Investigation Branch were kept busy for the better half of the day processing the crime scenes and trying to unearth a motive for the killings, as well as identifying the killers.