Petition for peace!

Earnest prayers were made for the protection of the residents of Maverley in St Andrew Friday morning, a little more than 12 hours after a brazen gun attack by gangsters who shot six people, leaving three dead, on Thursday night.

Old-time gospel hymns resonated across the community as a religious group sought divine intervention for the protection of the residents and for swift action by the police to restore peace.

The drive-by shooting occurred at 8:30 p.m., prompting a subsequent shoot-out and a high-speed chase between police officers and the gunmen who carried out the attack.

The gunmen abandoned the vehicle in the St Andrew North Division.

When the Gleaner news team visited the West Main Drive corridor where the shooting occurred, some 12 police officers were at the scene as investigations continue.

Head of the St Andrew South Police Division, Senior Superintendent Kirk Ricketts, was one such officer.

Shattered months of peace

Given the gravity of the incident the night before, which shattered months of peace in the neighbourhood, Ricketts told The Gleaner, it was therefore critical to boost police presence in the area and undertake containment measures.

“The community has been relatively calm in recent times. In fact, I believe that this is why so many persons would have been shot and injured last evening,” he noted, adding that the police were able to control a flare-up in violence that occurred late last year.

This, he said, resulted in more people emerging from their homes and socialising as they began to feel safe.

He told The Gleaner that the three people who were injured and taken to hospital did not have life-threatening wounds.

According to Ricketts, a lot of progress is expected because the vehicle left behind by the attackers provides a major lead in the cops’ investigations.

Ricketts believes that after the necessary scientific tests are carried out, police officers would be able to identify the culprits.

With increased fears by residents of an upsurge in violence, the senior cop urged the residents to cooperate with the police.

“I can commit to the community members that they will see police presence for quite some time to ensure that we bring back some level of calm,” he said.

“This has been happening year after year,” he said, revealing that those involved are as young as 15 years old with high-powered weapons.

Despite police officers’ claims that the attack stemmed from gang violence, the family of one of the deceased, 26-year-old Shemar ‘Black Berry’ James, claimed that he was a man who would not get involved in wrongdoing but was instead being recruited by gangs.

According to one relative, it was his refusal to join the gang that made him a target, as he was shot at just last week in the same location. James’ babymother lives in the area.

“Him is a nice person,” she said, noting that he worked and earned an honest living just to stay out of trouble.

When he returned home, he would either sleep for long hours or tend to his two-year-old son, she explained.

However, she stated that members of the community wanted to see his downfall, which resulted in his name being frequently brought up to the police.

“If police hear him name now, all when him nuh do nothing, people call him,” she added.

Mother in hospital

Before going out on the road that night, James reportedly built kites for his son and other children in the house, which he later flew in the daytime hours. That was the last time his relatives saw him.

He is the third of his mother’s four children. When his mother who suffers from high blood pressure heard of his death, she collapsed and had to be rushed to hospital where she is now admitted.

The warring factions are said to be from various areas in St Andrew, including the Top Maverley, Bottom Maverley, and Ackee Walk located off Molynes Road, according to Ricketts.

Turf battles, extortions, reprisal killings, and contract killings, according to Ricketts, are some of the key issues cited as reasons for the gun violence in the area.