Manchester killings political - PNP

Mark Beckford & Angelo Laurence, Sunday Gleaner Writers

The People's National Party (PNP) is claiming that the killings in the community of Georges Valley in Manchester, on Friday night, were politically motivated and are among a series of attacks aimed at the party in the build-up to the election.

Four persons were mowed down in a drive-by shooting in the Central Manchester constituency. According to police reports, about 10:00 p.m. the persons were at a bar when a blue Toyota Corolla motor car drove up and four men alighted with weapons and opened fire on them.

The dead persons are Oqilime Lampert, 28 years old; Nordia Wright, 35; Carol Cowen Simms, 37, and a man known only as Tom, all of Georges Valley district.

Peter Bunting, PNP candidate for the constituency, described the killings as "(a) senseless and wicked act that was clearly politically motivated".

"Three mothers have been violently taken from their families by cowards who hide behind weapons while trying to intimidate persons who openly express their political views," Mr. Bunting stated. "This despicable act will not deter the people of Central Manchester. We will not be intimidated. We are resolute in rejecting this type of politics and those who represent it," he added.

Committed by outsiders

While the shootings have not been labelled as political by the police, intelligence suggests that the Manchester killings could have been committed by persons from outside the parish.

Director of Communications for the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Karl Angell, urged individuals to call Kingfish at 811, Crime Stop at 311 and the police at 119and report any suspicious person who they see in their communities.

Mr. Angell also issued a warning to persons renting cars within this period. "The Jamaica Constabulary Force is appealing to persons out there to be careful to whom they are renting cars, because these cars are being used to perpetrate acts of violence."

Sally Porteous, the Jamaica Labour Party candidate for the constituency, has condemned the killings; she, however, does not believe that they were political, and is calling for unity in the constituency.

Meanwhile, the Police Officers' Association (POA) has "noted with consternation the increased levels of violence and disorder in certain communities as the September 3 general election approaches."

In a press statement yesterday, the POA expressed concern about the attempt to destroy the Constant Spring Police Station with Molotov cocktail bombs on yesterday morning.

The POA said its members will not yield "one inch of soil" to criminal elements.