Ski-Mask gang now operating in Trelawny, police say
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Superintendent Dwight Powell, head of the Trelawny Police and Mayor of Falmouth Colin Gager
The Ski-Mask gang, of which six members were killed during a gunfight with the security forces on the Trelawny/St. James border in January last year, is now operating in Trelawny.
The gang was previously based in St. James.
Superintendent Dwight Powell, head of the Trelawny Police, said a segment of the gang being led by Adrian Walker, otherwise called Lippy, has been found to be operating in Bunkers Hill.
Superintendent Powell, who was giving an update on gang activities in the parish during a meeting at the Trelawny Municipal Corporation Thursday, said there was confrontation between the Ski-Mask gang and a police team in Wakefield on Wednesday.
However, he urged community members not to be fearful but to cooperate with the police in their fight against crime in the area.
Superintendent Powell has appealed for members of the gang -specifically Adrian Walker, Robert Miller, Ashauni Johnson and a man known by the alias Bobby Wells – to turn themselves in.
The former leader of the Ski Mask gang was among the six men killed last January.
Higher murder toll likely
Superintendent Powell said the murder tally in Trelawny this year is likely to be higher than in 2017.
Twenty-one people were murdered in the parish last year.
Twenty murders have been recorded so far this year, up from 15 during the same period last year.
The latest murder occurred on Wednesday when a 21 year-old woman was stabbed during a domestic dispute in Sawyers, Stewart Town.
Superintendent Powell said the accused is in police custody.
Meanwhile, Mayor of Falmouth Colin Gager has expressed concern about the possible negative effect of crime on tourism in the parish.
“We have, of course, the cruise ship port, visitors coming into town, and whenever there is any sort of violence around, it will allow people and visitors to have that doubt in us,” he argued.