WESTERN BUREAU: PRESIDENT OF the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), Lloyd B. Smith, is calling for intervention at the highest level to help fight the swelling crime wave in the Second City.
In 14 days, some 20 residents in Montego Bay and its environs have died at the hands of gunmen who wantonly shoot their victims, in many cases in broad daylight and at public events in the city centre.
The latest victims were killed between Friday night and Saturday afternoon. They are 59-year-old Benjamin 'Jango' Murray of Granville, St James, who was killed by unknown assailants approximately 11:20 a.m. at a restaurant in the community. The Sunday Gleaner understands that Murray's son was killed just last week in connection with the ongoing lottery scam.
embassy place killing
The second killing occurred at 12:40 p.m. along the busy Embassy Place thoroughfare in downtown Montego Bay where 44-year-old businessman Lennox Smith was killed in a drive-by shooting.
Saturday's bloodletting followed Friday night's murder of 28-year-old Jason James and 44-year-old Evon Samuels, both of Cornwall district in Barrett Town. Both men were at a stall in the community about 9:30 p.m. where they were attacked by two gunmen who shot them all over their bodies.
They were pronounced dead at hospital.
The deaths bring to 46 the number of persons killed in the parish of St James since the start of the year.
"We need Prime Minister Bruce Golding, Minister of National Security Colonel Trevor MacMillan and Commissioner of Police Hardley Lewin to pay special attention to Montego Bay at this time because what is happening here is outside of the norm," a seemingly weary Smith told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday.
holistic approach
According to Smith, there needs to be a holistic approach to the matter, not a piecemeal one.
Although there has been no serious crime against tourists, Smith said, "MoBay is our major tourist destination and if this continues, its definitely going to have an effect on the industry."
Offering to push the drive to find the resources that the police might need, the chamber president said the assault on the community could not continue.
His call comes on the heels of People's National Party Region Six caretaker Henry McCurdy's plea for all civic-minded Montegonians - politicians, church leaders, educators and service clubs - to organise a meeting immediately to discuss plans to put together proper resources to combat the plague.
crime-fighting measures
Last Tuesday at an MBCCI-hosted crime forum, members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force outlined crime-fighting measures that are soon to be undertaken in the parish of St James.
In his address to members of the business community, Paul Stanton, deputy superintendent in charge of administration in St James, disclosed that Montego Bay would be receiving additional police help from 19 members of the Island Special Constabulary Force.
janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com