Two men have now been confirmed dead from Sunday morning’s deadly armed robbery in Montego Bay St James, a development which is giving rise to a renewal of calls for the reimposition of a State of Emergency.
The men killed are 61-year-old Canute Earle, security guard of Norwood, St. James, and 41-year-old Floyd Wilson, driver of Rosemount Gardens, St. James.
The shooting took place about eight o’clock on Jarrett Street.
Mr Earle and another security guard were travelling in a marked Hawkeye Security motor car that was escorting Mr Wilson who was driving a Toyota Hiace van with a passenger aboard.
The police say, at a particular section of Jarrett Street, another motor vehicle blocked the roadway, then men armed with guns alighted from it and immediately started shooting at both vehicles.
There was reportedly an exchange of gunfire and the gunmen took an undetermined sum of cash before leaving the scene.
It’s reported that the gunmen used high powered weapons which also caused significant damage to the vehicles.
The Police were summoned, and on their arrival, both security guards and Wilson were taken to hospital, where Earle and Wilson were pronounced dead and the other guard admitted in stable condition.
The shooting sent early morning commuters and business operators scurrying for cover, and disrupted the activities of the area for the entire day.
State of Emergency
National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang, responding to the Montego Bay shooting, said it had pushed the number of killings in Montego Bay to five for the weekend, and following recent murders in Hanover and Westmoreland.
These provide evidence of “a major resurgence of violent criminal activity,” he said.
This resurgence had caused a renewal of the debate concerning the imposition and maintenance of a State of Emergency in St. James, he said.
“In the pathology of crime, when you have a reduction you tend get a resurgence, which is why you have to maintain your suppressive activity for long enough to have an effect on behaviour change,” he added.
He has used the situation to conclude there is a resurgence of violent criminal activity in the area, and has again given highlighted the discontinuation of the State of Emergency earlier this year:
Bwoy o bwoy.
When you look in some communities every second house is listed for sale. The sad thing is that so many good Jamaicans still in Jamaica, many ppl with clean hands and hearts are being forced to suffer it out with these creatures. I feel it for the innocent ones who just want to live their lives in peace and can’t do so.