MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica — A shocking act of gun violence has cut short the life of a 38-year-old Jamaican woman who was gunned down Wednesday afternoon while selling books on the grounds of a prominent church in this western Jamaican city, with investigators now pointing to a dispute over property inherited from her recently deceased husband as a leading line of inquiry.
Cora Thompson was attacked just after 2:00 pm outside the Montego Bay New Testament Church of God on Water Lane, where she had been an active, committed member for five years and served as a choir singer. At the time of the shooting, congregants inside were holding a live-streamed fasting and prayer service, and the echo of at least five gunshots sent the gathering into shock and disbelief.
A close anonymous friend of Thompson confirmed to local publication Jamaica Observer on Friday that Thompson had been targeted with repeated threats before her killing. According to the friend, at least three separate death threats had been made against Thompson in the period leading up to the attack.
While Jamaica’s police force has not publicly confirmed the existence of these threats, a senior officer involved in the ongoing investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Observer that domestic dispute rooted in contested assets is the primary direction detectives are leaning toward. The officer added that investigators are focusing on property and assets linked to Thompson’s late husband, who died recently of undisclosed natural causes and was scheduled to be laid to rest this weekend.
Family members, who have requested privacy amid their grief, remembered Thompson as a gentle, giving person who avoided conflict at all costs. A cousin described her as someone who would choose to walk away from any confrontation rather than engage. Those close to her also noted she was a quiet, devout Christian who spent much of her time engaged with church activities. Bishop Ruel Robinson, senior pastor of the Montego Bay New Testament Church of God, echoed those tributes, calling Thompson a high-spirited, cooperative and supportive community member who got along well with nearly everyone she met.
Thompson, a native of Roehampton in southern St James who most recently resided in central Montego Bay’s Humber Avenue, is survived by her 12-year-old son, who is now in the care of Thompson’s grieving mother.
The killing marks the second time in recent years that a woman has been murdered on the grounds of a house of worship in western Jamaica, and the two cases bear striking, unsettling similarities. In January 2021, Andrea Lowe-Garwood was shot and killed while worshipping inside the Agape Christian Fellowship Church in Falmouth, Trelawny. Like Thompson, Lowe-Garwood’s death was immediately linked to disputes over her late husband’s property and possessions.
In that 2021 case, Lowe-Garwood’s stepson Javon Garwood was charged with contracting gunman Dwight Bingham and getaway driver Leon Hines to carry out the killing. Bingham and Hines both pleaded guilty to their roles in the crime and agreed to testify against Garwood, but Bingham later withdrew his cooperation, leading to a jury acquittal for Garwood. Bingham was ultimately sentenced to 45 years in prison for the murder, while Hines received a six-year sentence as an accessory after the fact.