Nannyville on edge as alleged don’s brother gunned down in fractured community
Published:Thursday | September 12, 2024 | 12:06 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
The security forces are keeping a close watch on sections of Mountain View Avenue, particularly Nannyville Gardens and its environs, after the murder of the community strongman’s brother on Monday night.
The deceased has since been identified as Kareem Hamil, event promoter of Ashanti Path, Kingston 3.
Reports from the Stadium police are that Hamil was walking along the roadway in the Nannyville community about 11:10 p.m. when he was pounced upon by armed men who opened fire on him.
He was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The deceased joins a list of people killed in the community since the start of the year, heightening fears that the bloodletting will continue.
“Him a carry food to his babymother when dem shoot him. Him dead inna the lane next door where him live. Dis a di same war weh a fight and people a dead and people a get shot. There is no real peace around here, and everybody pick a side, whether publicly or privately,” a resident told The Gleaner.
Increase in murders
Mountain View Avenue is stretched across two police divisions, Kingston East and St Andrew Central, which have a combined 92 murders as at September 7.
At that point last year, the two police divisions had a combined 84 murders.
Since the start of the year, the St Andrew Central police division has recorded a 49 per cent increase in murders while Kingston East has seen an 18 per cent reduction.
A senior officer who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Gleaner that part of the reason for the increase in murders and shootings in St Andrew Central is the bloodletting in Nannyville as warring factions in Top and Bottom Nannyville go at it.
The police have imposed several crime-fighting strategies in the area, including increased patrols and curfews.
On January 28, a 48-hour curfew was imposed in sections of Nannyville, in the St Andrew Central police division, in response to a flare-up of violence in the area.
Two men were fatally shot in a deadly gang conflict, and a police officer was seriously wounded when a team responded to the violence.
The deceased were members of rival gangs in the community.
On June 11, another murder, that of Kemar ‘Dangles’ Williams, who was gunned down on Windward Road, which runs off Mountain View Avenue, increased fear in an already divided space.
Weeks after, on June 24, two men were killed in Nannyville, St Andrew, in what is believed to have been a reprisal attack by a rival gang for the death of Williams.
The deceased in the June 24 incident were identified as Stephan Wallace, otherwise called ‘Blue’, and Demar Pink.
A third man was taken to hospital with bullet wounds and survived.
The St Andrew Central Police, at the time, theorised that Wallace, who was said to be aligned to the Ashanti gang, operating in Nannyville, was the target.
Meanwhile, the latest serious crime statistics released by the police on Sunday show that across all 19 police divisions, murders surpassed 800.
The Jamaica Constabulary Force reports 806 murders as at September 7, which represents a 17 per cent reduction year on year.
At this time last year, 969 people had been killed.
Of note, 114 people were killed over the last 35 days, from August 3 to September 7.