Press conference on brutal murders in Cherry Tree Lane, Clarendon

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By means of

The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP

Prime Minister of Jamaica

At the

Press conference on brutal murders in Cherry Tree Lane, Clarendon

On

August 12, 2024

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Good morning everyone. It is indeed a sad day for all of Jamaica.

First of all, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those whose lives were brutally snuffed out in this cowardly incident. I feel the pain and share the distress of the families, loved ones, communities and indeed all of Jamaica, and I also pray for the recovery of those who were injured.

I stand here today with the firm resolve that everyone, and I mean everyone, who was in any way involved in this incident will be brought to justice. I want to make that absolutely clear. This is an incident that cannot be allowed to stand in any way, otherwise it will become the normal routine of criminals. It is a criminal act. It is against our laws. It is an attack on public order, but I want you to consider for a moment that it goes beyond the victims, it goes beyond the community in which it was committed; it is an attack on every Jamaican, it is an attack on every community.

The intention was not only to harm the victims. The intention was not only to spread terror in the local community. No, this act is designed to spread terror in the country. This is an act of terror, so it cannot be treated as ordinary criminality and that is why we convened the National Security Council this morning. We have deliberated much longer than we expected because there are many issues involved that we will not discuss today, but the nation must be assured that we are investigating all dimensions of this act of terror.

We know that individuals abroad are involved and connected to this act. We know that individuals who are currently in custody are connected to this act. We know that multiple gangs are involved and connected to this act. Every gang, every individual who in any way facilitated, supplied the weapons or was involved and pulled the trigger, we will find you and we will bring you to justice. I want this to be absolutely clear. We will not treat this as another criminal act. We will treat this as an act of terrorism, which is why we have instructed the security forces to launch an all-out assault on the gangs that are involved. That’s right, every gang that is involved. It is impossible for eight individuals to be killed in one incident in Jamaica and the state stands by as if nothing happened. No! Every gang member, every gang will feel the full force of the state today. This must never happen again in Jamaica.

Last year in November, there was another act of terror where a gangster with a high powered weapon shot into a public car and killed two innocent children. I promised that they would be found and brought to justice and they were. Today I make a similar promise and everyone involved in this will be brought to justice, in whatever way justice is meted out to them. We have toyed with gangs for far too long. We have treated them like Robin Hoods. Communities have had too much sympathy for them. Communities have given them a sucker and protection. We must use this as an opportunity to finally draw a line and separate the gangs from our communities.

The gangs are not just poor and dispossessed youth. If you believe that, you are deluded. You are deceived. The gangs are, some of them, second and third generation, meaning they have gone from just street level operations to coordinated operations at a higher level to transnational and some of them have gone into business. The gangs are organized economic enterprises. They parade themselves as if they are in the community to protect you, but no, that is not what they are there for. They are there to use your community as a front to carry out illegal activities and to profit from it. They are there to organize violence. I want you to think carefully about what happened last night.

Somebody had to get a vehicle. Somebody had to get high-powered weapons and ammunition. Somebody had to plan or it was to gather the information that an event was going to be held. Somebody was probably there as a lookout. Somebody probably had to call others to come and shoot. This was coordinated, so this is what we call organized armed violence, and this level of planned organized armed violence needs to be addressed unequivocally.

It is not a Jamaican problem. It is becoming a phenomenon throughout the Caribbean and Central America and Latin America in general, and even North America, so we cannot allow this incident to be treated as just another criminal act. It is not just a criminal act. Organized armed violence is an act of terror and we must treat them as criminal terrorists. So the security forces have been put in charge. Operations are already underway at all levels, from intelligence from the kinetic operations in the field to seeking support from our partners to bring those who are abroad and facilitating, directing and financing the criminal operations here. No stone will be left unturned.

I want to assure the Jamaican people that your government will use this as an opportunity to tackle the gangs once and for all.