Gov’t not ruling out new St James SOE
Published:Wednesday | November 8, 2023 | 12:13 AM
WESTERN BUREAU:
Straddled with gang warfare threatening to derail any hope of putting murders under control, the Government is not ruling out the return of a state of emergency (SOE) in St James.
The non-commitment and side-stepping of the SOE was evidenced by the responses of both Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang and Commissioner of Police Major General Antony Anderson during a press briefing on Tuesday in Salt Spring in the parish on Tuesday.
However, the national security minister said the situation was being examined, and the advice related to the way forward would be propelled by the police.
“If they advise, we will take the action,” Chang said, addressing the media in the wake of Monday’s gun attack on a taxicab which left three families mourning, and a school community reeling from the loss of its students.
The deaths of the latest victims – seven-year-old Justin Perry, nine-year-old Nahcoliva Smith and a man who was reportedly a person of interest, 26-year-old Tevin Romanio Hayle – follows the murder of 22-year-old Imani Jarrett of Flower Hill, and 30-year-old Odane Smith, also of Flower Hill, two Thursdays ago.
Smith, who was out on bail answering to murder charges in Westmoreland, and his common-law partner, were taken from a taxicab they were traveling in and shot several times by gunmen just outside the Salt Spring Primary School.
The day after, another resident of Flower Hill was shot and killed, while his son was admitted to hospital nursing gunshot wounds.
The police believe 39-year-old Everald Appleton, who was killed last Tuesday on Union Street, downtown Montego Bay, was possibly another victim of the upsurge of gang violence in the two communities.
Salt Spring and Flower Hill are just the tip of the iceberg. Gang warfare has reared its ugly head in the area of the zone of special operations (ZOSO) area in Mount Salem, where three men were shot two Sundays ago and, on Tuesday, a man believed to be innocent of any involvement in criminal activities was killed in broad daylight.
“We are not averse to any activity legally aimed at apprehending those who have been creating mayhem in the parish,” Chang stated.
The police commissioner was more pointed in his response, stating the Jamaica Constabulary Force would do whatever is necessary to protect the people in St James.
“If the criminals are going to open up automatic weapons on children, then we will have to respond as necessary,” he noted.
He said that, as far as he was concerned, there is nothing that is off the table as long as the law provides for.
Their comments came hours after the city’s deputy mayor, Richard Vernon, called for a return to the SOE.
Currently, the police say they have some good leads as it relates to the perpetrators involved in Monday’s bloodbath. However, the commissioner said he could not expound.
In the meantime, the national security minister said nothing would be spared in finding those who took the lives of the innocent babies. He called the act “terrorism”. He said it was quite clear that the gunmen/gunman saw the children at the back of the vehicle, but still fired the weapon on the car, spraying the passengers with bullets.
“They were using assault rifles that the kids were exposed to, and are showing signs they have become more active in Montego Bay in recent weeks,” said Chang.