Excerpt from The Jamaica Observer published on Monday, September 26, 2022
By Jean Lowrie-Chin
Imagine enjoying yourself at a friendly Sunday afternoon football match, when out of nowhere two vehicles drive close to you and friends, opening fire at a planned target, and continuing to shoot at others. After the mayhem, three were left dead, six injured and a community traumatized. “What am I hearing,” tweeted a friend who was away on a business trip, “Mass shooting in Jamaica?”
Bereaved relatives and friends have had to get counselling. A pastor shared that the mother of a victim, her beloved daughter, is in such a state that her church family have to be caring for her and ensuring that she takes her medication. So here we see the two sides of our beloved Jamaica: the cold-hearted murderous thugs, and the kind-hearted friends and neighbours. The kind may outnumber the cold, but we are not armed like them.
PSOJ President Keith Duncan aptly describes the level of crime we are experiencing as a national emergency, calling for consensus on crime fighting between Government and Opposition. We need to respect the recommendations of the JCF: they are the ones on the ground with the intelligence on which to act.
Please allow us to go for our morning walks and to leisure events without worrying about being attacked, robbed and murdered. Like too many of us, I write this with painful memories of much-loved friends who have died at the hands of criminals. Crime is the storm that we have the power to calm; now we must have the will to do it.
Jamaica Highlights 