Growing concerns about crime in Old Harbour
Published:Saturday | January 29, 2022 | 12:05 AMRasbert Turner/Gleaner Writer
There are growing concerns about recent spates of gun violence in Old Harbour, St Catherine.
“I am shocked to have gunmen attacking and shooting people,” Nathaniel Tennison, a resident said.
“Yes, it wasn’t perfect. Little wounding or even shopbreaking, but it get really bad now. The police have to work over time to deal with this problem urgently,” Tennison added.
Other stakeholders in Old Harbour revealed that businesses have been affected.
Intensified surveillance
The police have reportedly intensified surveillance in the rural township and surrounding communities.
In the latest incident on Sunday, an 80-year-old business operator of Claremont Gardens, Old Harbour, was shot several times by an assailant.
Reports are that, about 7:30 p.m., the senior citizen was at his business place, a guest house, when he was attacked by a person/s who shot him five times.
The police were summoned and he was hospitalised.
That attack came two days after gunmen shot and killed a man and injured his female companion in the neighbouring Claremont Housing Scheme.
In that incident, Patrick Pearson, a 59-year-old plumber, died from gunshot injuries.
Police reported that, about 9:30 p.m., Pearson and the woman arrived home when two men in a Toyota Probox motor car fired on them.
Head of the operations portfolio in St Catherine South, Superintendent of Police Hopeton Nicholson, said the police are seeking to reassure the public that they will increase patrols.
“We are aware of the upsurge, and efforts to deal with the problem within the space already started,” Nicholson said.
“We are dealing with the guns-for-drugs trade and other criminal acts such as murder, shootings, robberies. Every crime will be dealt with. We (the police) are just asking for the residents’ cooperation with intelligence.”
The St Catherine South police division has recorded 12 homicides since the start of 2022.