16 killed in 48 hours

Jamaica recorded a bloody 48-hour period with 16 murders recorded on Sunday and Monday. Seven of the eight murders that occurred on Monday were in divisions where the police and army are manning a state of emergency.

Eight murders were committed on Sunday, with a nine-year-old boy in St James among the victims. There was also a triple killing in Olympic Gardens that day.

Monday’s murders spanned a nine-hour period from 10:22 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. according to data provided to the police hierarchy.

The victims include 57-year-old Dalton Shippy, who was bludgeoned to death, allegedly by his brother, in Ramble, Hanover.

According to police reports, Shippy was struck in the head with a sledgehammer.

In Roaring River, Westmoreland, Kashwayne Bennett, whose age and address are undetermined, was shot and killed by unknown assailants. A female bartender was shot and injured in the incident.

St Andrew South, Jamaica’s deadliest police division in raw numbers, recorded three of the other murders, while St James and St Catherine North each recorded one.

Kingston Central, which has not been under a state of emergency, reported the eighth murder.

Up to Saturday, March 21, total murders stood at 306, a 2.3 per cent increase over the corresponding period in 2019.

Portland remains the only parish without a murder in 2020.

Overall, however, other serious crimes, such as shooting, larceny, rape, break-in and robbery, are all on a downward trend when compared to January 1 to March 21 last year.

Murders by police divisions

St Andrew South – 35

Clarendon – 31

St Andrew North – 28

St Catherine South – 28

St Catherine North – 23

St Andrew Central – 24

St James – 19

Kingston Western – 18

Westmoreland – 16

St Ann – 16

Kingston Eastern – 14

St Elizabeth – 11

Kingston Central – 11

Manchester – 9

St Mary – 7

Trelawny – 7

Hanover – 6

St Thomas – 3

Portland – 0