Noel Thompson, Freelance Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

Police in St. James might be searching for a needle in a haystack as they try to determine who murdered a young man in the city on the second day of the new year.

Yesterday investigators at the Montego Bay CIB were still unable to positively identify the murdered man or who may have killed him. They have theorised, however, that he is about 19 years old, of dark complexion and slim build.

Reports from the Constabulary Communication Network liaison officer for the parish are that, about 2:25 a.m. Tuesday, the unidentified man was involved in an altercation with another man along North Lane, near Sam Sharpe Square.

Fight

The argument became heated and a fight ensued between the men when a knife was used to stab him. The wounded man was found lying along the roadside and the police were summoned.

He was taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The deceased was attired in a pair of blue jeans pants, multi-coloured shirt and a pair of white sneakers. This was the first murder in the parish for 2007. Last year, 178 murders were recorded.