AN­NA-LISA PAUL

Frus­trat­ed over the wors­en­ing crime sit­u­a­tion, which has left sev­er­al men from the Bel­mont com­mu­ni­ty dead with­in re­cent weeks, res­i­dents are de­mand­ing the au­thor­i­ties step up their plan to ap­pre­hend gang mem­bers and get il­le­gal weapons off the streets.

The calls fol­lowed Fri­day’s dou­ble mur­der of broth­ers Ray­mond Weekes, 47 and Andy Weekes, 37.

The men were shot around 4:30 pm on June 9, as they walked along Davis Street, Bel­mont.

They were said to have been on the way home from work when the shoot­ing oc­curred.

The broth­ers lived at Up­per Davis Street, Bel­mont.

Re­ports in­di­cate the men had just be­gun walk­ing up the nar­row road lead­ing to their home, when they were con­front­ed by two masked men dressed in cam­ou­flage and car­ry­ing high-pow­ered ri­fles, who opened fire on them.

Both men, who worked in con­struc­tion, col­lapsed and died on the road.

An el­der­ly woman who did not want to dis­close her name, com­plained bit­ter­ly:

“We al­ready liv­ing like pris­on­ers in our own homes and imag­ine we can't even go to work and come back safe.”

She de­scribed the broth­ers as “de­cent boys”, adding that they had gone to make a day’s work when tragedy struck.

One man told Guardian Me­dia he lives in fear, and more so when his grand­chil­dren have to go to school, as he isn’t sure they will re­turn safe­ly.

“You could be go­ing to work and school now or com­ing back home... and get pick up. I does be so ‘fraid for them, I does pray hard for them every day,” he said.

Oth­er res­i­dents de­clined to speak with Guardian Me­dia but com­plained of the crime sit­u­a­tion gen­er­al­ly, which they said was out of con­trol.