HANOVER HORROR (JA): Man gave New Year’s greeting before being killed in Sandy Bay.... Tedford Grizzle, 39-year-old, was one of three men slain in Hanover since the start of the year

BY ANTHONY LEWIS Observer West writer  Thursday, January 05, 2017    

SANDY BAY, Hanover — 

Tedford Grizzle, one of three men slain in Hanover since the start of the year, had just greeted those with whom he came in contact with “Happy New Year” salutations shortly before he was fatally shot.

“They say he was walking and shaking everybody hand and telling them Happy New Year, ‘Happy New Year’. And then, after that, him leave [the nightclub] and go home,” Jermaine Smith, Grizzle’s sister, told the

A distraught Jermaine Smith, sister of Tedford Grizzle
 who was gunned down on New Year’s Day, stares at the
 photograph of one of her brother’s identification cards.

Jamaica Observer West during a visit to the Mount Pelier community in Sandy Bay on Tuesday. Grizzle, a 39-year-old construction worker of New Town in Sandy Bay, is one of two people killed in the parist hours apart on New Year’s Day. The other is 39-year-old taxi-operator Bruce Brown of a Kew address.

Police reports are that Grizzle had just left a New Year’s celebration at a nightclub and was on his way home in New Town, when he was attacked and shot by unknown assailants.

Residents reportedly heard several loud explosions in the area around 5:00 am.

They later discovered Grizzle’s body at about 7:15 am and called the police.

Smith said she got the news of her brother’s death shortly after seven o’clock.

“A somebody come call mi son and tell him say him uncle dead, and then when him call mi and tell mi, mi bawl out same time,” said Smith, who added that it’s not known why her brother was killed.

She described her brother — originally from Orange in St James, and had moved into the New Town community approximately five years ago, as a jovial and friendly individual.

“Everybody feel it because he was friendly and loving,” expressed a teary-eyed Smith. “He is just friendly and like to run jokes and make fun of people.”

Keisha, a member of the community expressed similar sentiments.

Since the start of the year, three murders have been committed in Hanover, which borders the parish of St James, where more than 260 people were murdered last year.

Apart from the killing of Grizzle and Brown on New Year’s Day another murder reportedly occurred in the Cousins Cove area of the parish the following day.

Commanding officer for the Hanover Police Division, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Arthel Colley, who told the

Observer West that the police are yet to make a breakthrough in the three cases of homicide in the parish, is now appealing to people with information on the killings to come forward.

“…Anybody knowing anything, come forward and give us the information. That is the only appeal I can make at this time,” said Colley. According to the police, 51 murders were committed in Hanover last year, compared to 59 in 2015.

DSP Conrad Cummings, who has responsibility for Zone 3 within the Hanover Police Division, said that the reduction in the cases of homicide in the parish last year is the second highest in the island. more