Christmas lockdown
Norwood, St James residents spend festive season under curfew amid flare-up of violence
MONTEGO BAY, St James — Police and soldiers were, up to late Thursday, searching for wanted men in the volatile Norwood, St James, community where a 48-hour curfew has been in effect since 6:00 pm Wednesday, following a flare-up of violence among rival factions that has so far resulted in four people being killed.
“We are carrying out a series of operations inside the community. We have some persons of interest and some who are wanted that we are pursuing inside there. So we locked it down,” commander for the St James Police Division, Superintendent Vernon Ellis, told the Jamaica Observer.
During the hours of the security measure, everyone within the boundaries of the curfew are required to remain within their premises unless otherwise authorised, in writing, by the ground commander.
According to Superintendent Ellis, the straw that broke the camel’s back was the killing of three residents in less than 12 hours, in two separate incidents.
In the first attack, two men who are cousins — 28-yearold Odane Satahoo, otherwise called Tanny, and 25-year-old entertainer Damean Coleman, otherwise called SK, both of Paradise in Norwood — were among four people travelling in a Nissan motor car about 5:00 pm when they stopped at a traffic light in Ironshore last week Saturday.
The police reported that three armed men travelling in a Toyota Voxy motor vehicle approached the Nissan motor car and sprayed it with bullets, hitting three of the four occupants.
They were all taken to hospital where the two cousins were pronounced dead.
Hours later, student nurse Fabian Wilson, also of a Norwood address, was shot dead during a drive-by in Norwood, in what the police surmise is a retaliatory attack for the cousins’ double murder.
The student nurse was driving along the Gulf section of the community when another motor car drove up and men aboard it opened fire, hitting him.
Wilson’s attempt to drive away from the scene proved futile, as he collided head-on with another vehicle.
He was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Superintendent Ellis told the Observer on Thursday that there were 17 checkpoints manned by members of the security forces across Norwood.
He named the gangs responsible for the recent uptick in violence as Jamal, Church Huger, and the Gulf faction.
Councillor Joshua Cummings (Jamaica Labour Party, Montego Bay Central Division) welcomed the intervention of the security forces. In fact, he is calling for an additional 48-hour extension of the curfew.
“I am happy that the security forces have moved in with this curfew. I believe also that it should be extended for another 48 hours to ensure that the tension that is there is quelled, and the people can feel a little more comfortable going out and coming in from their work and their duties,” Cummings, who resides in the community, told reporters.
“The truth is that the community has been quiet for the past three/four years, and all of a sudden the crime has started to escalate. Indeed, we as the citizens, we need to start doing something, and the Government at large,” he said.
Cummings also attributed the upsurge of violence in the community to feuding gangs.
“Presently, the flare-up that is happening... I think is a gang conflict and the security forces have to ensure that the entire community is being patrolled and being manned, so that all, and not just one section, feel comfortable knowing that the security forces are there for their comfort and to give them a peace of mind,” he said.
He also expressed confidence in the Government to get the situation under control.
“I am not happy, I am not comfortable. Most of all I am a Christian, I am a man of the gospel, and for lives to be lost it is a pain to my heart. I know that with the minister of national security and the Government at large, we are going to try our best to make sure that this come to an end soon,” Cummings said.