Even as young men are taking each other's lives with hardly a second thought to settle turf wars, law abiding residents that live in the crossfire of these urban war zones are the one who areaffected most. Such was the case on Saturday afternoon as residents of East Canal again had to duck for cover as hostile gunfire ripped through the embattled neighborhood. On Saturday, 7 News was on the scene at the corner of Racecourse Street and East Canal shortly after the gun smoke had cleared:
Alfonso Noble reporting,
Alfonso Noble
Marilu Smith was just about to put her 3 and 4 year old daughters to sleep on a sponge bed on Saturday afternoon when gunshots rang out near her home at the corner of East Canal and Racecourse Street. One of a number of shots ripped straight through her home and made its exit, for Smith, a bit too close for comfort.
Marilu Smith
I was just sitting, watching my T.V. with my kids and me and my father was discussing about shooting that was happening, and by the time we could have finished discussed what we were discussing, we just heard gunshot just start bursting and one of them, as you can see, just passed through the house where I was going to put my kids to sleep. I was so frightened, I don't think I could have expressed how I would have felt. I don't even want to think about it.
Ruth Gentle
I hear the bullets from home and this da my neighbor so I just come see weh di happen 'round ya.
Alfonso Noble
So, how many shots did you hear?
Ruth Gentle
Must be 'bout seven, eight, seven eight so.
Alfonso Noble
With that number of bullets and shootouts becoming more frequent in this unrelenting urban warfare, residents are now living in constant fear for their lives. They are fed up of having to play dodge the bullet.
Marilu Smith
We're in the, if the shot would have gotten inside or at the corner, so people, the targets that they are at... sometimes they come from at the end of the lane to shoot their targets up the street.
Ruth Gentle
The bullets dem could catch innocent people, right. Da no only deh target who dey after, dey could catch innocent bystanders. So people really tired ah it.
Marilu Smith
If they want to shoot, or if they want to kill anybody, go to a close range or go to somewhere, some range and just shoot who they want to shoot because innocent - it could have been my child this afternoon. And I know that the person that died last night, it was just a rival gang, but my child didn't have nothing to do with that and both of them could have been lying down there, maybe two of them could have gotten shot because it maybe could have gone through one and then gone through the other one because they are so little. Probably it could have been me and then they would have been left motherless.
Alfonso Noble
That's the grim prospect that hundreds of residents have to live with on a daily basis and all they can do now is plea to the warring factions to seek higher counsel.
Ruth Gentle
I woulda like fi tell them that they need to turn to God and increase the peace, right because violence no mek no sense.
Marilu Smith
What I would like to see done, I don't think the government or anybody could do anything cause, no care how hard dey try, the guys will still do anything to get who they want to get and sometimes it is the innocent one who gets hurt and not the one who they want to hurt.
Alfonso Noble
That's the hardened outlook that some residents have been forced to take on - as there's no relief in sight from the constant hail of bullets.
Residents say that the spate of shootings in the area has increased after armed police patrols were removed from the area.