PRIME Minister P J Patterson last night expressed personal outrage at a recent string of gun murders of children and again declared his administration's resolve to rid the country of gunmanship.

At the same time, Patterson urged communities and organisations, including political parties, to help fight the problem of crime and violence in the country.

"I call on every community organisation and leader, private sector entity and NGO, every church and every institution, all political parties and their supporters to exert all your moral authority and employ all your creativity to rid our land of this pestilence," Patterson said in a statement.

The prime minister's statement was apparently triggered by an incident Sunday night in Greenwich Town, South West St Andrew, where 13 year-old Shauna Palmer was shot dead by gunmen who opened fire on children attending a birthday party. Four other children -- aged one, four, eight and 13 -- were injured in the shooting.

The attack was seen by the police as part of a conflict between gangs from Greenwich Town and Whitfield Town in which the children were innocent fodder.

A week earlier, 12 year-old Romeo Lawrence was shot and killed while he sat in a barber's chair in King Street, downtown Kingston.

That killing was assumed by the police to have been a reprisal for the October 18 slaying of a pregnant 15 year-old, Shanique Reynolds and her twin infant sisters, Chavelle and Sharon Malcolm, three, as they slept in a single bed in a small wooden house in Rema, South St Andrew.

The Rema killings, in which two adults were injured and homes fire-bombed, was part of post-election violence in the western end of the capital, starting with the murder of one man and the burning of several homes in a section of Denham Town.

Patterson, in last night's statement, said it was with "deep sorrow and outrage" that he had noted that children were being "specifically targeted by criminal, terrorist gunmen on their rampage of death and destruction".

His outrage, Patterson felt sure, was shared by "all well-thinking Jamaicans".

"The outrage which accompanies our sorrow reflects our growing awareness that there are elements of our society who are so morally depraved that they would wantonly take the lives of innocent children to satisfy their objectives which are born in minds and souls twisted by hatred and cruelty," the prime minister said. "This outrage should motivate us all to join hearts and hands and do whatever we can to rid our country of this scourge."

Added Patterson: "On the government's part, I have already spoken of our resolve to rid this country of gunmanship once and for all. I reiterate that we will continue to do whatever is necessary to strengthen the security forces to work untiringly towards this objective."

He stressed, however, that this was a job not only for the security forces but the whole society.

"The guns are being wielded by sons, brothers, husbands and fathers who live among us and who are nurtured and protected by elements in our communities," Patterson said. "Until every single daughter, sister, wife and mother stands up and says enough, no more -- this scourge will not end."

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