Two farmers were shot dead yesterday morning and another is battling for life in hospital after gunmen went berserk outside a nightclub in the normally quiet farming community of St Vincent, Trelawny.

The dead men, both of Trelawny addresses, have been identified as 42-year-old Mark McHurdy of Freeman's Hall, and Ricardo Williams, 31, of the Campbell Road section of St Vincent. Police reports are that the three farmers were standing outside a popular nightclub in St Vincent when they were peppered with bullets by two unidentified men.

McHurdy and Williams died on the spot while a 58-year-old man was rushed to a nearby hospital by the police. The shooters reportedly fled the scene on foot.