PORTLAND, Jamaica — Portland recorded its fifteenth murder for 2016 last night, when a man was shot dead in the quiet farming community of Windsor District in the Rio Grande Valley.

The deceased has been identified as Leroy Suarez, 33, of Fellowship in the parish.

Head of the Portland police, Deputy Superintendent Rex Swearing, said that at “about 8 o’clock Thursday evening, the police were alerted to sounds of loud explosions believed to be gunshots. On their arrival, Suarez was seen lying motionless along the roadway in the community.

“He was taken to the Port Antonio Hospital where he was pronounced dead,” Swearing told OBSERVER ONLINE.

Portland’s top cop also revealed that Suarez was reporting on a condition of bail for a murder committed in Hanover, and was listed as a ‘person of interest’ in connection with two murders committed in Portland – the 2014 murder of Dwight Wiggins and the 2015 murder of Winston Passley.

The police are yet to identify a motive for his murder.

In the meantime, DSP Swearing is reassuring Portland residents that the police will try to ensure Portland remains the safest parish in Jamaica.

Everard Owen