PM declares assault on gangs after deadly mass shooting in Clarendon

  

Prime Mininster Andrew Holness has declared an assault on gangs following Sunday night's terror attack on Cherry Tree Lane in Clarendon where eight people, including a child, were killed and nine others shot and wounded.

 

Mr. Holness was speaking at a press conference on Monday morning where he disclosed that the incident was orchestrated by people overseas and behind bars.

 

"There is no way that eight persons can be killed in one incident in Jamaica, and the state stands as if nothing happened, no. Every gang member, every gang will feel the full force of the state today. This must never happen again in Jamaica," the Prime Minister declared.   

 

It’s reported that a group of people had gathered at a car wash playing a game of bingo during a birthday event when the shooting occurred.

 

Mr. Holness committed that the perpetrators would be found and brought to justice, "in whichever form the justice is visited upon them". 

 

He said Sunday night's incident is an attack on public order.

 

"It goes beyond the victims. It goes beyond the community in which it was perpetrated. It is an attack on every Jamaican. It is an attack on every community. The intention was not only to harm the victims. The intention was not only to spread terror in the local community. No, this act is designed to spread terror in the nation. This is an act of terror. So it can't be treated as ordinary criminality," he insisted. 

 

Mr. Holness again sought to assure the public that the government and the security forces will successfully apprehend those involved.

 

The Prime Minister headed to Clarendon following Monday morning's press conference.

 

The police have identified seven of the eight victims of Sunday's shooting.

 

They are seven-year-old Aiden Bartley, a student of Four Paths Primary School; 27-year-old cosmetologist, Kavel Daley; 50-year-old Lawrence Francis, a construction worker; and 20-year-old cashier, Diamond Bennett.

 

Also killed were 68-year-old butcher, Errol Stewart, otherwise called 'Wagga'; Courtney Messam, otherwise called 'Dummy' and a woman known only as Margaret.

 

Nine others, including a one-year-old, have been hospitalised with bullet wounds.