By John Myers Jr. and Rasbert Turner, Gleaner ReportersAN UNEASY calm now prevails in the volatile central St. Catherine communities of Ellerslie Pen and Job Lane, Spanish Town, St. Catherine, following the shooting deaths of six persons and the wounding of four others within a two-hour span on Friday night.
Teresa Turner, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) councillor for the area, said that Friday's killings were in retaliation for the killing of a man who was shot dead at a construction site earlier that day.
"It is a gang feud," she said. "First thing that I heard is that somebody from the 'Clans' gang was shot and then the retaliation took place."
The murders occurred a few hours after Dr. Raymoth Notice, Mayor of Spanish Town, announced a controversial 'Gun Crime Prevention Programme', calling for the turning-in of illegal guns.
Also, they came after an initiative by the police to enforce a 'cease-fire' between rival gangs, 'One Order' and 'Clansman', which were involved in a bloody feud four months ago which claimed 12 lives.
INCREASED PATROL
The police have increased their patrol of the troubled communities. Yesterday police from the Mobile Reserve, Special Anti-Crime Task Force, the Homicide Division, and the Organised Crime Investigation Division maintained a strong presence there.
Some roads in the communities are still partly blocked and some residents said they were afraid to move about.
The Constabulary Communication Network identified the sixth victim as Valentine Stewart, age unknown, of Eltham Park, near to Spanish Town. He was one of six men who were cut down in two separate shooting incidents in the old capital. Five of the others were identified as Howard Greenwood, 28, of Ellerslie Pen; Fitzroy Hibbert, 22, and his cousin Maragie Hibbert, age unknown; and Uriel Harvey, 40, all of Job Lane.
Nobody has been arrested for the killings but The Gleaner was told that during police operations in the area yesterday, several men from the Job Lane community were detained and taken to the Spanish Town police station for processing.
Mayor Notice, in expressing concern about the rising force of 'dons' in Spanish Town, said yesterday that
Dr. Peter Phillips, Minister of National Security, 'wrote to us on Friday evening saying that he applauded the initiative to curb the gun violence and wants to meet with us to discuss the issue.'
The mayor said much work needed to done by all the relevant stakeholders in the old capital. "We will have to start creating dialogue with the other... governors (dons) who control the inner cities because they are powerful," Dr. Notice said. "We better start finding out what they want and how we can understand their mechanism or modus operandi."
However, Homer White, the People's National Party's (PNP) caretaker for central St. Catherine says the police need to be more vigilant in order to curtail the work of gangs.
"Crime on a whole is in a serious state in central St. Catherine, and not only with JLP or PNP gangs," Mr. White said. "I think there are too many guns in this constituency." He added, "I don't think the police are on top of things. They sit and allow things to get out of hand."
