Several men detained as Manchester police probe deadly gun attacks

 

Several men were detained on Wednesday during a series of operations carried out by the Manchester police in search of the suspects behind a number of deadly attacks in the parish since Sunday.

 

Four people have been killed and several others injured over the period. 

 

In the latest incident, residents of Cedar Grove district reported hearing explosions about 9 p.m. Tuesday, three men were later found with bullet wounds close to the main road. 

 

The police were called and the men taken to hospital where one died. The other two were admitted. 

 

On Sunday, 41-year-old Everol Richards, a maintenance work of Villa Road in Mandeville, was found dead on a haul road in Brokenhurst, and on Monday, the bodies of two men were found with bullet wounds in front of a bar on Manchester Road.

 

In an interview with Radio Jamaica News on Wednesday, Superintendent Carey Duncan, head of the Manchester Police Division, insisted that the parish is safe despite the recent flare-up in violence. 

 

He described the recent incidents as "targeted events with persons who have disputes with each other", noting that the police are bracing for other attacks in the community.

 

"In this space, in particular, the Green Street area and surrounding areas, the May Day, Barnstaple areas, certainly it can't be business as usual. Our intelligence is telling us, or pointing us in the direction, that other persons may be impacted, and so we have to be very proactive in our approach in saving lives. So certainly, there will be some special measures within this particular space to ensure that the persons here remain safe," he declared.