One of the prime suspects in Sunday’s mass murder at Cherry Tree Lane, Clarendon, was cut down by law enforcers on Wednesday afternoon in what the police reported was a targeted operation.

Police identified the man as Steve Smith, otherwise called Thicka or Fly Brain. They said he was suspected of being involved in numerous contract-related killings and other serious and illicit activities in Clarendon and other parishes.

“He was wanted by the May Pen police for murder for some time and was a person of interest in several other murder investigations,” the police said in a late evening news release.

According to the police, members of the constabulary’s Fugitive Apprehension Team and the Clarendon Operational Support team went to a location in Osbourne Store, Clarendon, in search of Smith and other men who were suspected of being involved in Sunday’s multiple murder. There was a confrontation during which Smith was shot and injured. He was taken to the May Pen Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

His death came hours after Acting Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey told a news conference at Jamaica House that the Cherry Tree Lane massacre was the latest act of bloodshed in a dispute over spoils between feuding gangsters overseas who inked “homicidal contracts” for revenge that spread to several communities in Clarendon over the past three years.

Bailey, who heads the constabulary’s crime and security portfolio, said the security forces “continue to work tirelessly to uncover the truth and ensure that those responsible are held accountable under the rule of law”.

He said already the investigation, which has resulted in the seizure of one firearm and the apprehension of five individuals, has made significant progress and revealed the connections to the previous incidents.

These incidents, the top cop said, included a quadruple murder in Havana Heights in 2021, a murder committed on April 21, 2024, and a subsequent shooting and arson committed on April 25 in West Park. The other incidents include a murder committed on April 29 at Cherry Tree Lane, a murder committed on May 11 on Foga Road, May Pen, as well as a murder committed on May 15 in York Town.

“Unfortunately, our findings indicate that these local violent issues have international roots and incorporate local players, some of whom are incarcerated. These individuals, who once were friends in Jamaica, had a falling out in the United States over illegally obtained gains leading to each taking homicidal contracts to incite fear and terror. Criminal actors in prison were contacted to facilitate these contracts through their criminal networks resulting in the senseless bloodshed here in Jamaica,” Bailey said.

“We are committed in removing those responsible from our streets and restoring public confidence and trust in our ability to keep Jamaica safe. We are mindful of the likely reprisal that will take place in several areas within and outside of Clarendon. I want to assure the public that the security forces will use all resources available to mitigate any threat of reprisal and will be available to use other legislative tools available to us,” he added.

In the meantime, National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang said the decision to declare a state of public emergency for Clarendon was taken after careful consideration and a realisation that there is a high potential for reprisals.

“This large single day count of murders within the parish of Clarendon is attributed to ongoing violence within the division that has reached a tenuous magnitude resulting in the eventual perpetration of murder as a means of intimidation, and further as a form of reprisal, as gangs seek to dominate the existing turf to gain new turf and benefit from largesse,” Dr Chang told the briefing.

“It is foreseen that this current rate of perpetration will escalate on the consideration that additional numbers of gangs across the division will inevitably be impacted and hence minded to perpetrate similar acts of intimidation and reprisal,” he stated.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness, commenting further on the issue, said: “The potential for reprisal” led the authorities to consider other gangs, noting that the gangs they have zeroed in on may very well subcontract other gangs to carry out reprisals. According to the prime minister, the stated 185 gangs now operating in Jamaica, down from an estimated 400, is still too many.

“The intention is to bring the gangs down to zero,” he declared.

In Sunday’s shocking incident, men armed with high-powered rifles aboard a white motor car at 8:45 pm disrupted birthday celebrations being held by a 31-year-old bar owner for her boyfriend, a 23-year-old mechanic from the area. After the shooting ended it was discovered that eight individuals had been killed and nine others injured. Amongst the casualties lay a seven-year-old boy, while a baby of one year and eight months was wounded.

The prime minister, at an emergency press briefing at Jamaica House on Monday morning, after a meeting of the National Security Council, declared a “total assault on gangs” across the island and pledged that the “Government will use this opportunity to deal with the gangs once and for all”.