St James couple gunned down, baby spared

WHILE mourning the murders of his son and the son's common-law wife, a St James pastor is thankful that the killers spared his seven-month-old granddaughter.

Relatives said Korey Clarke and his wife Samantha Patrick, both 30, were at their Aboud Circular, St James home around midnight on Wednesday when two gunmen forced their way inside and shot the couple as they lay in bed.

As the shooting began, it is believed both Clarke and Patrick used their bodies to shield their daughter, who was also lying on the bed. After shooting the couple multiple times, the gunmen left, leaving the screaming baby unharmed.

Speaking with Newsday at his Aboud Circular church on Thursday morning, Anthony Clarke thanked God his granddaughter survived the attack.

Clarke said he got a call shortly before the shooting from a neighbour who had seen the gunmen walking around his son's home.

He said the murders have shaken the family and the community, as his son was well-known by residents.

Clarke said his son ran a parlour in the neighbourhood and sometimes received Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) contracts for construction projects.

Clarke said his son and Patrick had been a couple since they were in secondary school.

The bodies have been sent to the Forensic Science Centre in St James, where autopsies will be done. Up to press time, no arrests had been made and St James CID officers are continuing investigations.