Dozens in limbo as gunmen torch homes

Heavily armed gunmen in central Kingston lit homes on Beeston Street before dawn on Tuesday and stalked the evacuees, firing wildly at men, women, and children fleeing for their lives.

One man was shot in the shoulder and remains hospitalised.

Many of the victims only salvaged the clothing on their backs in the fire that raged sometime after 4 a.m. that had estimated losses of $22 million.

Four units with 26 firefighters fought the blaze.

“ID, TRN, NIS, mi have a level two certificate in welding, school certificate everything burn up,” one victim said.

Kevin Pitter put his losses at half a million dollars. His brother, Howard, said his were twice as heavy.

“My wife is from Canada and she bring down all different types of things for me,” Howard told The Gleaner.

Howard said that he alerted a family with three children to escape with their lives.

“Me see it (fire) and before me say me a go take out anything out my house, mi could never do it. Me have to start run and wake up people out their house. The three little girl did a go bun up inside there,” he said.

The crisis in the Kingston Central Police Division has seen a year-on-year rise in shootings by 25 per cent. Murders have soared to 37 up to June 29, a dozen more than for the corresponding period in 2020.

Opposition Spokesman on National Security Peter Bunting has chided the Government’s handling of crime.

“Three weeks ago, we were a bit lower year to date in murders compared to previous years and lower in most of the categories of serious crime. We are very disappointed that in three weeks we have reversed that and now we are five and a half per cent ahead year to date,” Bunting said during Tuesday’s press briefing of the Crime Monitoring and Oversight Committee (CMOC).

Overall, murders stand at 696 compared to 666 in 2020.

Chairman of CMOC, Lloyd Distant Jr, again lamented missed targets on critical deliverables such as recruitment and fleet procurement to bolster crime-fighting efforts.

“We, of course, remain concerned with regard to just the total number of vehicles, there should be 3,000. We only have 1,800 in place, so the JCF only has 1,800 in place. That’s a huge gap,” Distant said.

The force aims to have a complement of 14,000 personnel by March 2024. It currently has more than 11,000.