WESTERN BUREAU – The police have still not identified the man who viciously attacked and stabbed a 15 year-old boy while he was in a games room along Deans Lane in Montego Bay on Wednesday night.

The teen, Richard Wedderburn, is from Hart Street in the western city. His murder brings to 67 the number of persons killed in St James since the start of the year.

At about 7:30 pm Wednesday, the police report, Wedderburn was in the games room when a man entered, pulled a knife and stabbed the boy several times before running from the scene. The teen was taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Investigators are now busy trying to unearth the motive for the attack.

Residents along Deans Lane and Hart Lane have their own theories. Deans Lane residents, who maintain that Wedderburn was a troublemaker, have suggested that his murder may have been an act of reprisal. According to them, he recently “roughed up” a student in the area and took away his knife. The schoolboy, they said, had promised to get even.

Hart Lane residents have, however, described the slain Wedderburn as a “good boy”.

They said he was pulled from the games room by a friend some time before his death but later returned, meeting his demise only minutes later.

Cops in the western city have long been concerned about students’ penchant for spending time in games rooms, especially during school hours, and have tried to curb the activity.

Now Wedderburn’s murder has fueled these concerns as well as those of parents whose teens visit the popular games rooms.