Jamaica’s murder rate continues to climb unabated.
Police blotters indicate that more than 900 murders have been committed on the island with some 285 days (seven months and 16 days) gone in 2017.
Pandemonium
On the night of Tuesday August 15, pandemonium broke out at Chancery Lane in Kingston, close to the middle class community of Meadowbrook.
A man was murdered in full view of people at a bus stop, route taxi operators and other members of the public at the busy intersection.
The victim has been identified as 29-year-old Damain Forrester, of a Greater Portmore address in St Catherine
Forrester had left work and was standing by a section of the bus hub on Chancery Lane in Meadowbrook. The morning of that fateful day he had received a call that caused him to worry. “He was just not himself,” said a co-worker. “His wife just had a baby about one or two weeks ago. I don’t know but that call bothered him.”
Killer dressed in black
About 9:47 PM a white car drove up near to where he was and as it stopped a man dressed in black from head to toe exited the vehicle. Then the car drove off. Damian was at the bus stop with co-workers. The man who had stepped out of the car was a killer.
The killer calmly walked up to Forrester and shot him once in the head before walking off for a moment, turning back to his victim and pumping at least six more shots in his head as he lay on the ground. The shooting caused a mini stampede as bystanders scampered for cover.
The gunman then rushed to the white car parked on another section of the roadway, for an easy escape.
Damain had been working at a nearby supermarket for less than a month.
Gang related, reprisals, domestic disputes
The troubling murder rate has the Jamaican authorities and law enforcement scratching their heads as lawless marauders run amok. Police in the island claim the majority of murders are gang-related, or reprisal killings. The police also claim a number of murders are the result of domestic disputes.
Visitors to the island are rarely killed and make up about two percent of all homicides committed in the last decade.
