PM Says Gov’t Working To End Gun Violence

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the Government is work­ing with the police and the army to deal with the issue of gun vio­lence in Jamaica. The prime min­is­ter’s state­ment comes a day after the police revealed that the secu­ri­ty forces will be mount­ing more police/​military oper­a­tions in the west­ern end of the island. “We are giv­ing the law enforce­ment agen­cies the resources they need and sup­port in oth­er ways to ensure they can deal effec­tive­ly with crime gen­er­al­ly and mur­ders in par­tic­u­lar,” Holness said, adding that the resolve is to see a con­sis­tent reduc­tion in crime. “We are work­ing towards that aim,” he said.

Holness also extend­ed the Government’s sup­port and prayers to all vic­tims of crime. “We, as a gov­ern­ment, are deeply impact­ed when­ev­er a Jamaican is affect­ed by crime. Crime impacts fam­i­lies and by exten­sion, our econ­o­my. Our quest for growth and job cre­ation will be most effec­tive in a safe soci­ety. We must end gun vio­lence,” Holness said. The prime min­is­ter said that through a part­ner­ship with the United States, oth­er law enforce­ment teams, the com­mu­ni­ty, and the State, Jamaica will suc­ceed in its fight against crime. “Our com­mit­ment is sound and our resolve in strong,” Prime Minister Holness stat­ed. http://​www​.jamaicaob​serv​er​.com/​n​e​w​s​/​P​M​-​s​a​y​s​-​G​o​v​-​t​-​w​o​r​k​i​n​g​-​t​o​-​e​n​d​-​g​u​n​-​v​i​o​l​e​nce

Slain twins killed my son, says mom..

Carol Bailey, the moth­er of 17-year-old Shaquille Brown, who was shot and killed in Waterhouse on June 5, believes that twin broth­ers Ramone and Rameish Cummings, who were killed by the police in Maverley on Thursday, were behind her son’s death.

Bailey told the Jamaica Observer yes­ter­day that there was evi­dence to sup­port her alle­ga­tions, based on eye­wit­ness­es in Brown’s killing that the twin broth­ers were involved in his killing. He received 25 bullets.“See his cap here that he was wear­ing. Seven shots went through the cap alone. Twenty-five shots him get! Other peo­ple were there when the gun­men invad­ed and they ran, but they know the gun­men because they are from here,” she said. According to Bailey, Ramone and Rameish had fled the Waterhouse com­mu­ni­ty and set­tled in the Gully Bank area of Maverley, where they had joined the “West Bank Gang” which, she said, has been ter­ror­is­ing the Carlos Park area of Waterhouse, where Brown was killed.

The 24-year-old twin broth­ers were killed by South St Andrew police on Thursday on Denver Crescent in Maverley. The police said that two 9mm guns were found at the house after the shoot­ing, which alleged­ly fol­lowed a con­fronta­tion with the police. The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) launched a probe into the inci­dent after the dead men’s moth­er, Claudette Matthews, claimed that they were killed while asleep. Residents at the crime scene sym­pa­thised with her. But Bailey and her sis­ter Sonia Henry insist that the broth­ers were involved in the killing of Brown and were being sought by the Hunt’s Bay police when they were killed.

“Police want­ed both of them. They ran from Waterhouse and went to Maverley,” Bailey told the Sunday Observer, adding that they were known in the com­mu­ni­ties as “Dreadie” and “Bleed Eye”. “But what about my child? He was using the Wi-Fi on his phone in Carlos Park and they run him down and shoot him. He died on the spot,” Bailey said. She claimed that with the emer­gence of the Gully Bank gang, there is no nightlife in the Waterhouse area. Residents want the police to step up their activ­i­ties against the gang.