By Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter
The JLP's Desmond McKenzie (left) and PNP's Paul Burke (2nd left), along with Political Ombudsman Bishop Herro Blair (right), talk with residents of Central Kingston yesterday. - Michael Sloley /Freelance Photographer
POLITICAL OMBUDSMAN and Chairman of the Peace Management Initiative (PMI), Bishop Herro Blair, along with representatives of the People's National Party (PNP) and Jamaica Labour Party, toured sections of Central Kingston where there has been an upsurge of violent shootings in recent days.
At least two persons have been killed and 14 others shot and injured during three separate drive-by shootings between Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
"We are here trying to give support to the victims," Bishop Blair told The Gleaner.
He was accompanied by Paul Burke, chairman of the PNP's Region 3; Desmond McKenzie, the Jamaica Labour Party's Councillor for the Tivoli Gardens Division; Victor Cummings, the PNP candidate for Central Kingston, and other members of the Peace Management Initiative.
Mr. Cummings told The Gleaner that a meeting has been arranged for today between various factions. "We are trying to get everybody to meet and discuss the issue," he said. "I also plan to walk the area and talk with the people."
The PNP candidate emphasised that the shootings are not political, but that some people wanted to twist it into a political issue.
Those killed have been identified as Kevin Beckford of a Rosemary Lane address and a man known only as 'Gaddaffi'. Among the injured persons was a 15-year-old schoolgirl.
Deputy Superintendent C.A. Walker, crime officer for Kingston Central, said that measures have been put in place to prevent further reprisals. He said 13 persons, including a woman, have been detained in connection with Sunday afternoon's shooting.
"We are sure some of these people will be charged. Reports are that it was the woman who flagged down the taxi and took the driver to an address in Central Kingston, where the gunmen took him out of the vehicle. We have since found the car," said DSP Walker.
A strong police presence was seen in the Southside area of Central Kingston yesterday. DSP Michael Ellis, crime officer for Kingston Eastern, said six persons were shot and one killed during a drive-by shooting in the vicinity of McWhinney and Tower streets Saturday night. The third drive-by occurred Sunday night along Lissant Road, when several men in a black car drove into the area and fired at a group of persons.
According to police records, since January there have been about 59 reported cases of drive-by shootings, 50 in the Kingston Metropolitan Area and nine in rural Jamaica.
Up to late yesterday most of the roadblocks mounted in several Central Kingston communities remained in place.
