News Briefs
Published:Tuesday | August 23, 2022 | 12:09 AM
Retired St Mary teacher killed
The St Mary police are pursuing leads into the fatal shooting of a retired teacher in Gayle, St Mary, Monday afternoon.
Dead is Dennis Anthony Mattar Edwards, 69, of Farm Pen district in the parish.
Reports are that Edwards was walking along the Gayle main road around 1:45 p.m. when he was pounced upon and shot in the head. His attacker fled the scene.
Edwards was rushed to the Gayle Health Centre where he was pronounced dead.
Commander of the St Mary police, Superintendent Bobette Morgan-Simpson, said no motive has yet been established for the shooting.
Murders climb 4% to 958
Murders have risen by four per cent year-on-year, standing at 958 as at August 19, police statistics show.
The current murder tally is 18 shy of the total number of homicides recorded in Jamaica in 2003 – the last year in the past two decades when murders were below 1,000.
St James, St Catherine North, and Westmoreland round out the top three murderous police divisions since the start of the year with 132, 94, and 89 killings, respectively.
Portland has recorded the fewest murders, eight, followed by Trelawny, Hanover and St Elizabeth, all of which have recorded 26 murders each.
Shootings have declined by 4.9 per cent. The St Andrew South Police Division had the highest number, 89, followed by Westmoreland with 84.
There were 58 fewer rapes for the period compared with the 2021.
Of the 256 rapes, most were recorded in St Andrew North (32) and the least in St Mary and Kingston Central, with three each.
Robberies across the island have increased by 13 per cent, with 582 reported, while break-ins rose by 5.2 per cent to 625 reported incidents.
American on murder rap to be extradited
United States citizen Ranje Reynolds, who was captured in Kingston last week Tuesday, is to be extradited to his homeland to face murder charges.
Reynolds waived his right to an extradition hearing in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Monday morning.
He was represented by attorney Matthew Hyatt.
Reynolds is wanted in connection with the January murder of 27-year-old Tarek Boothe of Virginia.
US authorities said that the murder occurred following an argument between the men.