THE POLICE now have the gangs in their sights.

Nervous that retaliation between gang members for the mistaken murder of one of their own this week could lead to “gang war,” police are on full alert.

On Monday evening, a group of young people had congregated in front of the home of one of their friends on Dorsett Alley in Bain Town, about a mile from the Nassau Street police station. To the casual onlooker, it was a normal get-together of young people after work. Suddenly from nowhere, a masked man stepped up, took aim, and fired. Noel Roker, 24, was dead. Shot in the face, his blood and brains stained the pavement. Roker was well known to the police — in 2008 he had been charged with three armed robberies.

According to police, it was internecine warfare within the same gang. The police believe the shooting was a carry over from a brawl outside Club Luna early Sunday morning.

Ostensibly, it was a fight between two rival gangs, but during the Sunday morning rumble, a bullet from Roker’s gun accidentally hit and killed one of his own buddies, a member of his own gang. Ako François Burrows, 20, was now also dead. Burrows was extremely well known to police. He had a very long “rap sheet”. You name it, Burrows had either done it or had been accused of doing it – murder, a number of shootings, drug possession and housebreaking.

Although Roker did not mean to kill his buddy, the police theorise that the masked man who executed Roker was exacting gang justice against one of their own for accidentally killing another of their own. Police do not think that this double murder will be the end of a rumble among “friends.”

An onlooker at the scene as police strung their yellow tape around the crime to protect the evidence, said that no one in the area seemed to be afraid of the police presence.

Just a street across the way, said the bystander, two women were brawling, their screams enough to curdle one’s blood as they fought over a man who was playing both of them.

On the other side, not too far away, a threatening male voice shouted at an adversary: “You want ’em to take away two bodies, eh!” Police or no police, they were red hot for a fight.

A Bain Town resident said that one would be shocked at the number of young people now walking around the area wearing their police attached ankle bracelets like a badge of honour. “If they have long pants, they roll up the leg for all to see the bracelet,” we were told. “Some of them wear shorts to make certain that the public sees their trophy. If they have socks on, they tuck their socks under the bracelet to make certain the bracelet is not hidden. They seem so young, and one of them looks so small!”

They might seem young, and they might seem small, but we are certain when the gang roll is called, they are the heroes who head the list.

Many clergymen wonder what can be done about crime. These are the young men they should be targetting. Obviously, as long as they sport these bracelets there is no employment for them. However, temptation and death lurk around every corner.

These persons should not and would not have been on the streets if bail had been denied them.

However, the newly amended Bail Act has been heaven sent, especially when one reads of the number of accused persons the magistrates, whether they like it or not, are forced to send to prison. Those released are at least tethered to a bracelet so that the police — and the public – can keep an eye on them.

There is not much that can be done if they decide to kill each other off. However, the greatest tragedy is when innocent citizens get caught in the cross-fire as happened in the Club Luna brawl on Sunday.

Parents should sit up and take note. There are few areas that are now safe after dark, but certainly their teenage children should be at home before midnight.

As a police officer, once told us: “After midnight when the police see a young person in certain areas, they assume they are up to no good.”

This then means — whether guilty or not guilty — the law assumes guilt, and the cards are stacked against the young. Home then is their safest haven in these uncertain times.