Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter

Residents are cowering in Rockfort, east Kingston, today after a long-running gang feud escalated early yesterday morning.

No one was injured in the flare-up but at least five families are now homeless after their houses on Oliver Road were set ablaze.

Several other persons have fled the community while a shopkeeper will have to start over after her business was looted by gunmen.

There are also fears that the violence could spread to nearby communities, as it is alleged that gunmen from these areas joined with members of a gang which operates in Rockfort.

"This will spread the war because a nuff a dem team up and invade Oliver Road," a resident said yesterday, claiming more than 30 men were involved in the assault.

The gunmen invaded a yard at 69 Oliver Road where they set fire to the five houses while firing dozens of shots.

Not too far away, the men broke into a shop and stole several items while trampling and breaking those they did not steal.

Houses invaded

Two houses in that premises were also invaded by the gunmen, who stole several items, including a television set which they abandoned metres away.

No one was killed in the incident but residents said that was more a matter of luck, as dozens of spent shells littered the street.

"It start from about eight in the night as a church did deh pon the road a keep meeting and the bad man dem guh tell dem fi stop them noise. The church stop but start back and done about 10 o'clock," one man told The Gleaner.

"About 1:30 to 2:00 me hear couple shot start fire and after that the amount a shot mi hear, the army and the police couldn't fire so much and the amount of man me see is more than 15," the resident added.

Cops not equipped

He charged that a police team was in the area but the cops were not equipped to challenge the gangsters.

Up to late afternoon, Deputy Superintendent Noel Christie, head of the East Kingston Police Division, was still unable to provide information on the attack.

He told The Gleaner that the police had a presence in Rockfort and this was to be increased to isolate the warring factions.

Christie said the police had information that two gangs, the Oliver Road Gang and the Base One Gang, were at war and investigators were making every effort to arrest the main players.