Police warn against Weymouth Drive, Spanish Town Road stone attacks

Asha Wilks/Gleaner Writer

Head of the St Andrew South Division, Senior Superintendent Kirk Ricketts, is cautioning motorists who traverse the Weymouth Drive and Spanish Town Road intersection to be on the lookout for criminals carrying out stone attacks.

Ricketts cited the issue of gang activities within the vicinity of the communities of Callaloo Mews and Riverton Meadows.

“Both of those communities have serious gang issues...and as such robberies, shootings and so on are really some of the kinds of activities that are carried out by gangs. This area is a hotspot,” he said.

He noted that in the past, fewer of these incidents occurred along the main road but within the residential areas. 

He pointed out that criminals will tend to try to find vulnerable targets to attack. 

Ricketts' warning comes after police were made aware of a motorist who shared her experience on social media of a stone attack while driving at night.

The vehicle was reportedly hit by a large stone thrown from bushes, damaging the left door, according to the post made on Saturday. 

The motorist went on to plea with drivers to stay clear from the area, particularly at night. 

“Having learned of the information on social media, we have already started to implement some mitigating measures to deal with what is possibly attempted robberies in that space,” Ricketts told The Gleaner. 

Noting that no official reports have been made to the police, Ricketts is encouraging affected individuals to come forward to help the police address the issue.

“We are concerned about the lighting in that space, it's relatively dark,” he said. 

Given this concern, he said that the police would be meeting with stakeholders on the issue.

“I want to ask our transit population to be extremely careful, especially at nights when they traverse these areas,” he appealed. 

He went on to encourage persons who may become victims of an attack to seek out the nearest well-lit, crowded place to inspect their vehicle - away from the zone of the incident. 

He further advised motorists to contact the police or go to the Ferry or Duhaney Park Police Stations, which are the nearest stations in the area to report the incident. 

“Please do not stop,” he pleaded. 

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