RESIDENTS of Balmagie Avenue in Waterhouse, St Andrew, on Thursday made impassioned pleas to warring gangsters in the community to quickly broker a truce to thwart potentially devastating acts of violence which pose serious threats to their freedom and economic survival.

Thursday, the Jamaica Observer visited the community on the heels of a series of suspected gang-related shootings and at least one case of arson, which caused destruction of a concrete dwelling at 12 Balmagie Avenue and displaced a family of six.

Totally conscious that the stagnation, which has already began to blanket the community, will get worse very fast, residents want thugs to cancel any plan of prolonging war.

A shop owner told the Observer that during the past two weeks gang conflict has given birth to tension and uncertainty throughout the community. He said sales at his shop have dropped as a result.

“Me would want it stop, big time. You done wid di kinda a business me do. Nothing can’t gwaan fi you if you affi lock early. You just affi expect anything at any time and from dat ago gwaan, people naa go shub out. I appeal to the bad boys to behave themselves because a serious thing. Right now, you just don’t know when it ago done, if it ago done and how long it ago tek. Things are just unsure and that nuh good fi nothing at all.”

Senior Superintendent of Police Kirk Ricketts, commanding officer for the St Andrew South Division, told the Observer on Thursday that police would try to put a dent on criminal activities in the space by compiling lists of persons of interest and persons to be questioned in relation to shootings and other suspected gang crimes. According to Ricketts, the police will maintain a round-the-clock presence in the space until law and order are restored.

“The area is tense because we have been having some gang type activities in the space for the past two weeks. We are ensuring that we maintain our presence in order to reassure the residents. Our activities are geared at interdicting the activities of these individuals. The fire incident still remains in the suspected arson bracket,” said Ricketts.

An elderly resident lamented how unpredictable and disrupting community wars can be, holding memories of past experiences as a testament.

“You affi a live kinda scared, but not really so much because you know that you and nobody nuh inna mix-up. Wednesday night was like the worst night in my life. I couldn’t watch anything at all on my television because fire burn off the power line. My TV is my comfort.

“Tuesday night, a pure shot dem did a fire and mi did affi come off di bed and get flat. Wednesday morning now, mi hear like rain a fall and mi look out fi see if it was rain. When mi look mi see one bright light and when mi realise, house a bun dung. Mi come out and start ball out ‘fire, fire, fire’. That was before 5:00 am.”

Several female residents were straight forward in sharing that the people are growing more and more afraid to walk about freely in their community. The evidence of that was the community’s resemblance to a ghost town, with very little activity on Thursday morning into early afternoon.

“Nobody naa walk up and down because di people dem fraid,” one woman told the Observer.

Another woman who enjoys partying begged for peace.

“We want peace inna we community so we can party and enjoy wi self. We want to be able to carry our children to school without thinking about drive-by and any other shooting. We want peace. We nuh want it go nuh further!”