Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter

A woman cries at Boulevard Super Centre in St Andrew yesterday morning after news emerged that four persons were killed. They were allegedly shot by a Jamaica Defence Force soldier at the Double Diamond Club in the plaza. Several others were shot and injured. - Norman Grindley/Acting Photography Editor

Senior police investigators are still trying to determine what led to the fatal shooting of at least four persons in a crowded nightclub in the Corporate Area early yesterday morning.

Eyewitnesses claimed that the drunken rage of a member of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) resulted in nine persons, including the soldier, being shot.

The soldier, 31, is a corporal with the coastguard. The police have not released his name.

"When me go home tonight, mi ah go hear the gunshot them in mi sleep - boom, boom, boom, boom," said an alleged eyewitness as he related the scary experience that left him nursing a blow to the head.

"Mi dive under the pool table and him push the gun under deh and say the whole a oonu come out and mi say, 'Steve, Steve, a mi, Kirk, and him say, 'You go over deh so and go sit down, you safe," the eyewitness added.

Steve is the only name released for the soldier, who is a frequent visitor to the nightclub, popular for its twice-weekly karaoke sessions and pool contests.

Demand for dance

According to reports, about 4 a.m. yesterday, scores of persons were at the birthday party at the Double Diamond nightclub in Boulevard Super Centre, St Andrew, when the soldier approached a woman and demanded she dance with him.

One person who was in the club told The Gleaner that the soldier said he wanted the "brown girl", and if anyone objected it would be "gun shot".

According to the reports, the girl repeatedly rejected the soldier's advances. When he persisted, two men from Sherlock Crescent in nearby Duhaney Park, intervened.

It is alleged that during a heated argument, one of the men pulled a knife. The soldier pulled a handgun.

Alleged eyewitnesses say the men ran off and the soldier opened fire.

"We hear the shot dem and mi see a youth run behind him and say no, Souljie, no, Souljie, and him still a fire, so me dive inna the bathroom," an alleged eyewitness said.

According to reports, the soldier, armed with a loaded handgun with two extra magazines, approached persons in the nightclub demanding to know where they lived, firing at persons believed to be from Sherlock Crescent.

As patrons cowered, there was a lull in the shooting. Then one man tried to "tiptoe" out of the club, which has a single exit.

He did not make it. The sound of gunfire and a scream confirmed he had been shot. The soldier then allegedly returned to one of the men on the ground and pumped several more bullets into the body.

Minutes later, two more explosions were heard. The soldier then gave himself up to a police team which had arrived on the scene.

A short while later, soldiers arrived and whisked away their colleague, who appeared to bleeding from two bullet wounds which persons claimed were self-inflicted.

A 9mm Springfield handgun, believed to be the weapon used by the soldier, was recovered by the police.

"We show the police and soldiers, the man who do the shooting and tell them fi kill him but them just put him in a jeep and drive away with him," said one alleged eyewitness in an expletive-laden tirade as he demanded justice for two of his friends shot in the incident.

Soldiers on the scene threatened to arrest the eyewitness, but feared further infuriating a large crowd of onlookers.

For hours persons gathered outside the plaza waiting for news on the victims. The bodies were not removed until more than eight hours after the shooting and investigators on the scene refused to comment.

Name changed to protect eyewitness.

Fatalities

éjon Peart, 20

Davian Kerr, 20

William Wilberforce, 28

Litchmore Forbes, 24