Seven slain in five days in Westmoreland
Published:Sunday | August 28, 2022 | 12:12 AMHopeton Bucknor - Sunday Gleaner Writer
At least seven persons have been killed across Westmoreland since Monday, renewing concerns over the level of crime in the island’s westernmost parish, which is home to one of Jamaica’s major tourist resort towns.
The latest in the string of murders occurred on Friday, when 25-year-old Lamar Smith was shot dead outside a bar along the Nonpareil main road in Negril.
Reports from the police are that shortly after 6 p.m., Smith was walking along the roadway when he was attacked by two men travelling on a motorcycle. He was chased and shot multiple times. He died on the spot.
Six other persons were murdered in the parish between Monday and Thursday night.
On Monday, Orlando Daley, otherwise called ‘Cudjoe’, was shot to death and another man left nursing injuries after gunmen rained terror on the Delveland community.
On Tuesday, 58-year-old Pete Flemming, a restaurant operator, was gunned down at his business establishment along Mint Road in Grange Hill.
Gunmen struck multiple times on Thursday, killing popular soup vendor Elroy Palmer, 55, at approximately 1:50 a.m. in Savanna-la-Mar; 19-year-old Oshanie Shaw was slain about 8:15 a.m. in Geneva district, Grange Hill; Odane Wilson, 35, was murdered about 10:30 a.m. along Barracks Road in Savanna-la-Mar; and 23-year-old Jamar Johnson was shot dead about 9:40 p.m., along the Peggy Barry main road in Grange Hill.
In June, Senior Superintendent Wayne Josephs, head of the Westmoreland Police Division, had stated that there was a reduction in murders in and around the boundaries of a zone of special operations, which was implemented in February in the parish capital, where many of the violent clashes unfolded.
Westmoreland Custos Reverend Canon Hartley Perrin said the crime situation remains a cause for concern.
“The crime and violence taking place in Westmoreland is very alarming, especially murders. I have invited all ministers of religion to a very important meeting on the 8th of September at the United Church Hall in Savanna-la-Mar,” said Perrin, who is also rector of the St Peter’s Anglican Church in Petersfield.
“The fact is that everybody is having their own prayer meeting here and there, but we need to come together as one body to see what we can do, whether by prayer or by action, to alleviate the suffering caused by the crime and violence that is so permeating our society, especially in our parish of Westmoreland,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.
Since the start of the year, at least 93 persons have been murdered in Westmoreland.