Teen murdered in St James

Western Bureau:

Despite the ongoing state of public emergency (SOE) in St James, marauding gangsters have been committing brazen murders, triggering concerns that the enhanced security measure is not having the desired effect.

There have been some six murders in the last two weeks, the latest occurring in the volatile Green Pond community in the early hours of Tuesday when gunmen snuffed out the life of 18-year-old Mark Powell Jr of Princess Street in downtown Montego Bay, along a dirt road in the community.

Mark Powell Snr, who journeyed to Green Pond Tuesday to view his son’s bullet-riddled body, said he last saw him alive at about 8 p.m. on Monday.

“Mi and him (Mark) come home yesterday about 8 p.m. and him ask mi fi lend him mi bike key. Mi tell him nuh fi lef de yard and give him $1,000 fe buy some food, and then me left de house,” explained the father.

“When mi come back home, mi can’t find him, all de call me call him phone, me nah get no answer. Mi fret whole night and then this morning, me hear seh dem find him dead a Green Pond.”

“Mark a good boy, him nuh give trouble, him and nobody nu inna nothing, the only ting ’bout him is that him love company,” added the grieving father.

Noting that his son’s girlfriend lives in Green Pond, Powell Snr surmised that his son either accompanied her home or was going to see her when he was killed.

“A de second son this mi lose to gunman. Mark don’t deserve dis… him is a very hard-working youth … him deh wid mi every day a learn fe do steel work,” added the father.

According to reports, sometime after midnight on Monday, residents in the vicinity of Hillview Crescent in Green Pond heard several loud explosions. At about 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, residents found Powell’s bullet-riddled body along a dirt road in the community.

Powell is the 12th person to be killed in St James since the second SOE was declared in the parish on April 30. Since the start of the year, St James has recorded 63 murders.