MINISTER of National Security Peter Bunting described exactly a year ago, last weekend, as one of his roughest weekends since taking office.

He was speaking at a gospel concert hosted by members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, marking the anniversary of a deadly attack in the East Kingston community of McIntyre Villa, also known as Dunkirk which is now dubbed Upkirk by residents.

On Valentine’s Day 2014, 17-month-old Trejhon Harvey and Demar McKenzie, who went by the alias “Biggs”, were shot dead by gunmen who opened fire at patrons at a party on Banana Street in the community.

That incident was followed by an apparent act of revenge, when armed men went to neighbouring Bryden Street where they shot and injured a man and a woman who fought off the gunmen’s attempts to shoot their two-month-old baby.

“(It) was perhaps one of the roughest weekends I have had in the time I have been the minister of national security, because we got the report that not only was there the shooting here, right here in this square that resulted in the death of 17-month- Trejhon, but there was another attempt to,” Bunting said.

“And at that point I said, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against forces of evil that we don’t even begin to understand,” the national securty minister shared.

He said that that weekend hit a new low point.

“People have come to a low point, as much as we get accustomed to crime and violence, I think this had hit a low point,” Bunting continued. “I remember coming through on the Sunday to do a walk through and there was hardly anybody to see, everybody was in their homes, you would see them peeking through, but nobody would come out. There was fear in the community.”

Since then, the spirit of the community has changed.

According to Superintendent Arthur Brown, head of the Kingston Eastern Division, since that weekend, the community has seen a downturn in criminal activities.

“I am happy to say since the start of 2015 we have had no major violence and we expect that this will continue throughout 2015,” Superintendent Brown told the Jamaica Observer. “Since the start of this year, we have had only two incidents – two assault cases – no murders, no shooting.”

The superintendent of police said after the killing last year, criminal activity in the area went downward that it is due to the partnership that has been forged between the residents and the police.

“We have forged a partnership with the citizens and it is working, so we expect it to continue and even strengthen,” Superintendent Brown insisted, adding that the residents have made the work of the police much easier.

Head of the Area Four police, Assistant Commissioner George Quallo also thanked the residents for supporting the police and told the Sunday Observer that the idea behind the gospel concert, which saw acts like George Nooks, Lubert Levy and gospel artiste Omari, was an attempt to prevent a flare-up of violence, on the anniversary of the deadly attack.

“There is a tendency when it reaches to the anniversary of a killing, tempers tend to flare and people want revenge, so we want to keep things positive in the community,” ACP Quallo stated.

“We have seen Dunkirk transform from a community that is high-crime, high-violence, to a community that we feel so comfortable to come into and interact with the citizens on a daily basis,” the ACP insisted.

The ACP said the gospel concert was in an effort to unite Dunkirk and environs and show them that no more fear will be allowed to linger and neither is crime and violence going to dictate how lives are lived.

“We want our children to grow peacefully. We want them to be able to move from community A to community B, and safely so,” ACP Quallo said. “What better vehicle to do it but invite the church community and residents of Upkirk to gather and give praises to the king.”