KINGSTON, Jamaica—Commanding Officer of the St Andrew South Police Division Senior Superintendent Damion Manderson said the police are following several leads into Sunday’s double murder on Balcombe Drive in Olympic Gardens, St Andrew.
Reports are that sometime after 7:30 pm, residents were hanging out at their gates when a car drove up, and men alighted from the vehicle and fired at the group. Two men and a female were injured during the incident. They were rushed to the hospital, where the men succumbed to their injuries.
The identities of the deceased men have not been revealed.
“It’s an unfortunate situation because Balcombe Drive is one of those communities that we have been working with for quite some time and managed to dismantle much of the gangs and displace gang members out of that area. What we’re finding coming forward from the intelligence from the situation is that this is seemingly stemming from an age conflict or a situation that happened at least two to three years ago and the folks, or individuals, would have come back into the area because of the peace and the tranquility of same and by so doing they seek the opportunity to pounce,” SSP Manderson said.
The commanding officer said the police are following several leads and are anticipating that those leads will bear some fruit within the next few hours.
“If those leads don’t bear the fruit that we’re anticipating at this stage, we will be putting out some names,” he said.
Manderson, along with Opposition Leader Mark Golding and Member of Parliament for St Andrew South Angela Brown-Burke, visited the community on Monday.
Golding called for an ongoing police presence in the community to prevent any further reprisal following Sunday’s incident.
“It’s a very dismal situation and it just reflects the fact that even though our murder statistics have improved, Jamaica is still not a safe place for many people. It’s sad because I know that police have been trying hard to get on top of things, but there’s still more work to be done,” he said.
Meanwhile, the member of parliament said the area has been seeing an improvement, but recent criminal activities have brought the community back to square one.
“The entire area has seen its fair share of these kinds of activities. We had gotten to a stage where things were quiet, and persons were living life normally, and things seem to have changed. We are just almost right back where we were,” she said.
(Video: Llewellyn Wynter)