As of July 15, 2023, forty percent of the 731 people murdered in Jamaica were committed by people in the 15- to 24-year-old age group. The State Minister of National Security, Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn, revealed the statistics on Tuesday, July 24, 2023.

Flynn spoke at Up Park Camp’s 36th Caribbean Commandants’ Conference in St Andrew.

Minister Cuthbert-Flynn says the numbers are shocking and should spur us into giving youngsters an alternative to a life of crime.

Further, the Minister said it is necessary to enroll more young men in programs such as the ones offered by the Combined Cadet Force.

In 2019, the Holness administration promised to establish a cadet unit in all high schools by the end of the 2020-21 financial year.

Minister Flynn said thus far, the target has not been met.

A man posing as a customer shot and killed chef/restaurant owner.

Clarendon police reported that on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, an armed thug allegedly shot and killed a businesswoman after posing as a customer at her restaurant in Hayes Clarendon.

The police identified the deceased as Alecia Latchman-Peart, age 39, a late chef of Cornpiece district, Hayes, Clarendon.

According to reports, on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, at about 1:00 pm, Peart was at her restaurant when a man posing as a customer entered and ordered a ‘box food.’

And as Peart put the food together, the man allegedly opened fire, hitting her several times before fleeing the scene.

Concerned citizens alerted the police. The police found Latchman-Peart lying in a pool of blood. And they transported her to the hospital, where the authorities s pronounced her dead. 

The Clarendon police are investigating.

Police probing double murder in Westmoreland

WESTMORELAND, Jamaica— Gum Shoes from the Westmoreland Police Department are working to piece together to determine who is responsible for the murder of two men whose bodies the police found in Amity district, Bethel Town, Westmoreland Wednesday morning, Jul 26, 2023.

The police are yet to identify the deceased men.

According to the operations manager for the Westmoreland, Deputy Superintendent Adrian Hamilton, the men are from St James addresses.

Media reporting confirmed that residents in the Amity community heard loud explosions and alerted the police. Upon arrival, the police found the men suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The police rushed the injured men to the hospital, where authorities pronounced them dead.

DSP Hamilton confirmed that a good samaritan dropped off another man suffering from gunshot wounds at the Cornwall Regional Hospital on Tuesday night, July 25, 2023. The man would later succumb to his injuries.

The police believed the three murders were linked–the investigations are ongoing.