ONE GUN, 30 VICTIMS

A gun that remains in the hands of criminals has been used to murder and maim almost 30 people, leaving a trail of bodies, blood and tears across the Jamaican capital within the last two-plus years.

Tests have revealed that this so-called ‘wanted’ or ‘ghost’ gun was involved in 18 killings – including at least four double murders – and 11 wounding incidents, a high-ranking police official confirmed to The Sunday Gleaner.

The killings were scattered across five police divisions in Kingston, St Andrew and St Catherine between 2019 and last December.

Ghost guns are linked to crimes through ballistics tests conducted on spent casings, bullet fragments and expended bullets recovered by scenes-of-crime detectives, one senior investigator explained.

“The spent shells and how they are fired … they have a way to determine consistency or if the rounds come from the same gun. That’s how they are able to determine that one gun is responsible for five incidents,” said the investigator.

But apart from clues that it is a handgun, the police know very little about this killing machine.

Roughly 230 “multiple active wanted” guns have been involved in 662 murders and non-fatal shootings nationally between January and June this year, according to Deputy Police Commissioner Fitz Bailey.

A breakdown of the figures shows that 29 guns were responsible for 73 murders and non-fatal shootings in St James; 28 guns were traced to 55 killings and non-fatal shootings in the St Catherine South Police Division; while 77 murders and non-fatal shootings in the St Andrew South Police Division were linked to 50 guns.

One hundred and ninety-five guns were used in 566 murders and non-fatal shootings during the first half of last year.

Jamaica recorded 760 murders and 595 non-fatal shootings between January 1 and last Wednesday, according to the latest police statistics. Murders are up 2.8 per cent year-on-year while shootings are down nine per cent.

One hundred and sixty-three murders and non-fatal shootings were traced to 57 of the over 230 illegal guns seized by the police in the first half of this year, Jamaica Constabulary Force statistics show.

Gangs, rent-a-gun schemes

Bailey, who is the chief police investigator, believes illegal gun rentals, contract killings as well as intra- and inter-gang conflicts are some of the factors fuelling the increasing number of ghost guns popping up on the police’s radar.

“If the gun is part of a syndicate that is committing crimes, then you are going to see footprints of that gun all over. It could also be a rent-a-gun [scheme], where a man rents a gun to do a job and then returns it,” he reasoned.

The Sunday Gleaner, citing senior law enforcement sources, reported in January that a thriving underground murder-for-hire industry is believed to be the main driver behind the bulk of the 1,463 homicides recorded last year.

The gun used to unleash terror on several communities across the Jamaican capital last surfaced five days before Christmas last year, police records show.

Residents say lifelong friends Mario Myers, 31, and Carlington Williams never had a chance after they were surprised by two gunmen in a brazen Sunday morning attack along Water Lane in their central Kingston community of Southside.

They were shot multiple times before residents discovered their bodies along the roadway and in a gully that runs along South Camp Road near Water Lane.

Myers’ mother, Michelle Graham, was shocked when The Sunday Gleaner informed her that the gun used to kill her son was involved in over two dozen other shootings and was still in the hands of criminals.

“It must bother me … because maybe it’s still here,” said Graham, making reference to her community.

“Mario is gone, but I’m still here. If the gun is still on the road, I can’t do anything about that. A di police business dat,” she said during an interview on Thursday.

Graham, 46, has two other sons who were killed by gunmen in the gritty inner-city community that has been a traditional crime hotspot.

Demario Myers was reportedly shot as he stood outside his gate on November 17, 2020 while her other son, Romario Myers, was killed in a drive-by shooting along Stephen Lane on August 6, 2011.

Graham admitted that Mario was “in and out of jail” on several criminal charges, but insisted that he was never convicted of any crime and blames cops for harassing her son because of where they live.

She said Mario was a “brilliant” child while he attended Donald Quarrie High School, but claimed the harassment by cops and the deaths of his siblings was too much for him mentally.

“Since he came from jail [earlier this year], he was just confused,” she said, bursting into tears before a friend rushed to console her.

Ghost gun footprint

The first crime in 2020 for the gun linked to the deaths of Myers and Williams was another daylight double murder, this time in Dunkirk, east Kingston.

Residents and police sources say Lorenzo Campbell, 28, and Oraine Baker, 35, went to Bryden Street on May 27, 2020 to purchase guns for a gang based in the neighbouring central Kingston area when the deal turned sour.

They were robbed of cash then shot repeatedly.

Family members were reluctant to comment on the killing, but said Baker was just “following a friend somewhere” and was unaware of Campbell’s mission.

Four months later, on September 9, the gun was again used in another double murder, this time in the west Kingston community of Arnett Gardens. The names of the victims were not disclosed.

After a seven-month hiatus, the gun resurfaced in Frazer’s Content, St Catherine, on April 29 last year. According to a police report, it was one of several firearms used to spray a packed Toyota Coaster bus with bullets.

When the shooting ended, seven persons were wounded, including Tracy-Ann Senior, 40, and Oneika Carter, 28, both of central Kingston addresses and who later succumbed to their injuries.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com

Ghost guns by police divisions

DIVISION STATUS

Kingston Central 25 guns linked to 49 cases

St Andrew South 50 guns linked to 77 cases

St Catherine South 28 guns linked to 55 cases

St James 29 guns linked to 73 cases

Westmoreland 23 guns linked to 43 cases