POLICE are probing a possible link between Tuesday’s murder of 19-year-old Alton Haffenden in Drewsland, St Andrew, and a stabbing incident in the nearby community of Waterhouse on Saturday.

“There was an incident on Saturday in the Balmagie area, where an individual was stabbed and killed. There is some information pointing to a link between that situation and what took place in Drewsland. This division has a lot of communities that are currently involved in gang-type conflicts. Any violence now could lead to more violence. We would expect attempts at reprisals coming out of Saturday’s incident. As you can understand, these communities are quite wide. If it is true that this incident was directly related to that on Saturday, I want to say that we are looking at at least three communities that could be involved in this conflict,” said Senior Superintendent of Police Kirk Ricketts, who heads the St Andrew South Division, where both communities are located.

Ricketts said other theories were being circulated about the possible cause of Tuesday’s deadly attack and assured that police were exploring all of them.

Ricketts told journalists that around 9:00 am on Tuesday men travelling in two motor vehicles entered the community of Drewsland and opened gunfire at a gathering, shooting four people.

Haffenden, who would have celebrated his 20th birthday on September 10, was found to be among the four people shot. He subsequently succumbed to his injuries. The other three people were taken to hospital, where they were treated.

Ricketts said the security forces were maintaining a strong presence in key communities in the division to try to prevent an escalation of violence, and he commended the quick response of the police that prevented the loss of other lives.

“We had increased presence in communities, but it is quite likely that the men would have done some surveillance before carrying out this particular hit. Our officers were close by and our quick response, we believe, prevented more people from being shot. We are using the information we have so far to guide our operational response as we speak,” he said.