Deadly Silence | Main Articles

WESTERN OFFICE:

Police Chief Superintendent Eron Samuels believes the triple murder that occurred last Tuesday in Montego Bay, St James, could have been prevented if residents had been more forthcoming in providing information to police before the incident.

Addressing last Thursday’s monthly session of the St James Municipal Corporation (StJMC), Samuels, who is the chief of the St James Police Division, said the shooting deaths of David West, 62, Rashaun Williams, 26, and 17-year-old student Jaydon Bennett stemmed from an incident on Monday night that police were only informed about after Tuesday’s deadly attack.

“From June 9 to July 9, which is about 30 days, we had no murders in St James. That was broken on Tuesday with a triple murder in the Canterbury area; fortunately we responded as we should have, which was immediately, and were able to seize two firearms from the main suspect, who fled. However, he turned himself in, based on the research we had done on him,” Samuels told the meeting.

“The challenge we face is that the public needs to cooperate with the police and provide us with information. There was an incident on Monday night… If we had had more information before that, if we had been aware of everything, this would have been avoided. We are asking residents to cooperate with the police so that we can keep them safe,” Samuels added.

Members of a police team were reportedly fired upon while responding to a report of a shooting along King Street in Montego Bay last Tuesday afternoon.

After the shooting stopped, West, Williams and Bennett – all of Upper King Street – were found in different parts of the community suffering from gunshot wounds. They were taken to hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

Two firearms were seized in the process.

On Wednesday, John Lee Roach, 32, who was listed as a person of interest in the case and was also wanted for murder in Hanover and for absconding on bail in a shooting with intent case, handed himself in to Falmouth police in Trelawny.

A second suspect, Kasheem “Borderline” Lewis, was asked to surrender.

FOCUS ON “HIP STRIP”

Meanwhile, when presenting the JCF’s report on policing in St James for the month of June, Samuels told the StJMC that particular attention would be paid to Jimmy Cliff Boulevard – Montego Bay’s famous ‘Hip Strip’ – and that community policing and youth intervention strategies would continue to be emphasised.

“It’s going to take all hands on deck to make sure that we create the safe environment that we want. We all have a stake in keeping the public and visitors safe here, and we’re going to be ramping up our operations along Jimmy Cliff Boulevard, which we know is a problem. We’re going to need a lot of infrastructure support to do that, including lighting and other amenities,” Samuels said.

“We intend to continue to respond to the needs of communities by ensuring that neighbourhood watch groups and police youth clubs are strengthened. We are taking this community-based approach to tackling crime while continuing to deliver operational interventions,” Mr Samuels continued.

According to the St James police report, five murders were recorded in the parish in June, all before the 30-day quiet period that began on June 9.

St James has recorded at least 76 murders since the start of the year, making it the police division with the highest number of homicides.

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