Senseless battle for ‘donship’ blamed for Rose Heights violence
… ACP Miller says bloodletting must stop, cops going after the gangsters
Published:Friday | December 27, 2024 | 12:07 AMAdrian Frater/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Glenford Miller, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) commander for Area One, is blaming the recent outbreak of violence in the Rose Heights community in St James on a ‘battle for donship’ between former friends-turned-enemies.
The community, which informed sources told The Gleaner is under the influence of three feuding gangs – G6, Hell Gate and 641 – grabbed the national spotlight last weekend when popular TikToker, 23-year-old Marvin ‘41 Busshead’ Samuels, was shot and killed in downtown Montego Bay by gunmen from the community, who reportedly ambushed him.
Indications are that Samuels, who lived in the section of Rose Heights that is reportedly linked to the 641 gang, was not a gangster but a victim of where he lived and his non-criminal association with persons involved in gang activities.
“Sometimes the incidents of crime are senseless because these are persons, by virtue of what we are gathering, [who] would have actually known each other but, because of persons vying for ‘donship’, everyone wants to be a don. So, as a result of that, friends killing friends,” said Miller.
However, Miller, who had the unpleasant experience of being fired on by gunmen just days after taking charge of the region, which spans Trelawny, St James, Hanover and Westmoreland, is leading the fight to blunt lawlessness from the front and said the criminality plaguing communities like Rose Heights will not be allowed to flourish under his watch.
“This must stop. We cannot continue as a nation like this,” said Miller, who is currently presiding over a noticeable reduction in serious crimes since taking charge of the region.
MEN KILLED IN ALLEGED GUNFIGHT
In the aftermath of Samuels’ killing, the police, acting on intelligence, reportedly tracked a man they identified as Alex ‘Scrampy’ McGhie to an address in Orange district, where he and two other men were killed in an alleged gunfight with law enforcement. McGhie was said to be a significant violence producer and the leader of the Hell Gate gang.
“He (McGhie) is one of the key players in Rose Heights, in the flare-up of the violence there,” said Miller.
The latest violence in Rose Heights could be seen as a case of déjà vu, evoking memories of a bloody gang feud in 2010 which claimed several lives.
That 2010 feud eventually cooled after the late Pastor Knollis King declared that he was not going to officiate at the funeral of any persons killed in the violence unless the community signed on to the Rose Heights Covenant of Peace, which he initiated.
The community bought into King’s initiative, which saw residents even apprehending other residents who were seen with illegal guns and turning them over to the police. The initiative, which also had a social component, saw young people being offered skills training to make them marketable. However, the initiative collapsed after about six years, primarily due to a lack of funding for the various programmes.
“If we want to control crime in communities like Rose Heights, we have to find creative ways to engage and train these youngsters to become productive citizens,” said former Senior Superintendent of Police John Morris. “We must stop these youngsters from seeing crime as their only option.”