Only a day after the Government announced its new crime fighting initiative ? 'Operation Kingfish'? marauding gunmen were at it again, killing four persons in the Corporate Area and Spanish Town, including a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) councillor caretaker.
By Glenroy Sinclair and Rasbert TurnerThe violent incidents have pushed the number of persons murdered since the start of the year to 1,165.
Two of the victims were slain during separate incidents in Spanish Town, St. Catherine, while the other two were killed in Olympic Gardens and Retirement Cresent, in the Corporate Area.
UNIDENTIFIED BODY
The police have since identified the victims as: 35-year-old Conrad Hunter, the JLP councillor caretaker for the Above Rocks Division in St. Catherine, 15-year-old Jonathan Morgan of Olympic Gardens, Carlton Hayden, 44, of Spanish Town and an unidentified body that was found on Retirement Cresent.
The death of Mr. Hunter has cast a pall of gloom over the school community of St. Jago High School in Spanish Town, where he was employed as an art and social studies teacher. He was reportedly on study leave, pursuing a course at the University of the West Indies.
According to police reports, Mr. Hunter stopped to purchase an item in the Wynters Pen area of St. Catherine, where he was attacked by three men with high powered weapons. The police said Mr. Hunter was shot several times and his killers took his licensed Glock 9-mm pistol.
ANOTHER SAD DAY
Mr. Hunter who lost to the People's National Party (PNP) Alphanso Grange in the 2003 Local Government elections, was described by St. Jago's principal, Keith Noel, as somebody who was well liked by the students and his colleagues. He is survived by a wife and a daughter.
"This is another sad day for us in Spanish Town," Dr. Raymoth Notice, the town's Mayor said in response to Mr. Hunter's death.
And pointing to the increasing number of violent killings in the town, Mayor Notice said he has been appealing to the authorities for help but to little avail. "We have even called on the Government to introduce the gun amnesty programmes, which we believe would go a far way," he said.
The JLP's deputy leader, Derrick Smith, described the killing as most shocking. "I grieve at the news of the brutal slaying of Mr. Hunter. The perpetrators of this barbaric act must be promptly brought to justice," said Mr. Smith.
