Jamaica declares state of emergency after two weekend shootings

2024-08-14T18:55:34Z

A man in a blue suit and tie speaks

Jamaica’s prime minister has declared a 14-day state of emergency in the southern parish of Clarendon amid fears of further violence after two shootings on Sunday left eight dead and nine injured.

Seven people were killed when gunmen fired indiscriminately at a birthday party in Cherry Tree Lane, Clarendon; the eighth victim was killed in a second shooting.

Among the dead is a seven-year-old boy, and police have confirmed that a one-year-old child was injured.

The government has not yet announced what the emergency measures will entail, but they could include curfews, longer detention periods without formal charges and giving police the power to search property without a warrant.

“This is an opportunity for the government to fully mobilize and have a very serious focus on gangs,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness told a news conference on Wednesday. “We cannot allow killings to become normalized in our country.”

Holness added that he hoped the measure would prevent reprisal killings, saying intelligence had warned there was a “very high probability” of retaliatory attempts.

Acting Police Chief Fitz Bailey said the government’s response had been “swift and effective” with five people already arrested and an illegal firearm seized.

National Security Minister Dr. Horace Chang attributed the recent killings to an escalating turf war between gangs and said a similar state of emergency in the parish in November 2023 resulted in a 50% decrease in shootings.

On Monday, the prime minister vowed that authorities would “deal with the gangs once and for all”.

He described the incident as organised crime and “an act of terrorism” and vowed to “leave no stone unturned” and work with partners “to apprehend those who are located abroad and facilitating, directing and financing criminal operations in Jamaica”.

Last year, Jamaica was ranked the second deadliest country in Latin America in a study by Insight Crime and Caribbean, with 60.9 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. Only the small island state of Saint Kitts and Nevis is the largest.

Related: ‘A victory for Jamaica’: 15 people sentenced in groundbreaking gang trial

Holness noted that while the number of gangs estimated to be active in the country has fallen from 400 to 185 in five years, the numbers remain “very high”.

At the regional level, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) has expressed concern about the alarming epidemic of violence and crime in the region. Country leaders have agreed to take a series of measures to address the rising gun violence, including stricter law enforcement and stopping the importation of illegal firearms.

According to U.S. government data, approximately 87% of weapons found in the Caribbean come from the United States.