While villagers of the sleepy community of Content, Manchester were engaged in playing dominoes at a shop in the wee hours of Saturday morning, deafening reports from a rifle and a handgun shattered the silence and resulted in the death of two well-known residents.

The Williamsfield police stated that about 1 a.m., seven men were engaged in a game of chance at the shop owned by Melbourne Tomlin when three masked men armed with a rifle and handgun attempted to rob them.

The owner of the shop attempted to close a door when the robbers opened fire hitting him and another patron. A third patron reportedly lifted a refrigerator as a shield and escaped injury.

Declared dead at the Mande-ville Regional Hospital were 45-year-old Tomlin and 26-year-old labourer Sean Sterling, both of Content.

Witnesses say the patron who used the fridge as a shield during the confrontation is a member of the security forces and on the arrival of the police, he could not repeat the Herculean feat when asked to do it again.

Reports from the police are that the gunmen were on a robbery spree across the parish and were connected to five robberies the same night. An early breakthrough is expected.