Canterbury man is victim number 265 in St James

Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:
2017 officially became the bloodiest year in the history of St James yesterday afternoon when marauding gunmen murdered a resident of Canterbury, Montego Bay, at a cook shop, on King Street.

According to residents, the dead man, who was identified only as Tedroy, was at the cook shop when he was confronted by armed thugs, who open fire on him, killing him on the spot.

The Canterbury community, which was the home base of notorious gangster Omar ‘King Evil’ Lewis, has been in a state of turmoil since he was recently killed in a drive-by shooting in the Catherine Hall community.
  
“The place a run a way … me nuh know a wha dem man dem hear seh but a nuff shot a buss inna de place,” a resident told The Gleaner. “Right now everybody worried bout wha a gwaan.”
                  
Prior to two recent killings, one in Canterbury and one in Salt Spring, 2016 was the bloodiest year in St James with 264 murders. However, despite a raft of new policing initiatives, including the nation’s first zone of special operation (ZOSO) in Mt Salem, gangsters continues to wreak havoc, leaving stakeholders worried about how high the final murder tally for the year will be.
              
Just recently several prominent stakeholders in Montego Bay, including chamber president T’Shura Gibbs made a call for additional initiatives to quell the violence. 

Prime Minister Andrew Holness had vowed that the matter will be addressed with urgency while National Security Minister Robert Montaque and Police Commissioner George Quallo met with representatives of the business community last week to discuss the crime situation. 

The previous week, Fitz Jackson, the opposition spokesman on national security, also had a meeting with top stakeholders to look at the crime situation.