KINGSTON, Jamaica – Minister of Education, Youth and Information Ruel Reid and State Minister in the ministry, Floyd Green, have urged full co-operation with the police probing the killing of 17-year-old Calabar High School student Stephan McLaren and 18-year-old photographer Chadrick Spaulding of Ken Hill Drive in St Andrew.

In condemning the killings, the ministers described the murders as the latest examples of “wanton, brazen attacks on the nation’s young people”.

Both young men were stabbed to death in alleged robbery attempts on New Year’s Day in the Corporate Area.

In a joint statement, today, Ministers Reid and Green said the violent attacks on Jamaica’s young people, often over material possessions such as mobile phones, pointed to a level of depravity in the society that had to be arrested by citizens fully co-operating with the security forces. They urged any eyewitnesses to the attacks to tell what they know to the police.

“We cannot all cower in fear from the criminal elements in our midst. We must stand up and be counted,” Reid said.

 In expressing condolences to the families, the ministers urged police investigators to use all resources at their disposal to bring the killers to justice.

The attacks against the country’s youth, they said, were stark reminders of the need for every well-thinking adult Jamaican to see each child as his or her own and to protect them as much as is possible.

Minister Green is also encouraging each Jamaican to commit this New Year to end the “informa fi dead” culture that permeates the society and makes it difficult for perpetrators of these acts of violence to be apprehended and convicted.

 “Oftentimes there is someone who knows what transpired, who saw the incident unfold but who is afraid to speak up. For 2017, especially as it relates to crimes against our children, we must all take a stand that we will be active participants in the resolution of these matters and that the perpetrators will have no place to hide,” said Green.