MONTEGO BAY, St James — The community of Lilliput in St James is now seeing a wave of violence that the councillor for the area, Anthony Murray, wants addressed.

According to Murray, there have been about four reported murders in the area over the last two weeks and he is worried the situation is getting worse.

“I know that manpower is sometimes an issue, but if you could beef up the presence — it could be military presence — in that space; because right now it’s very tense and the likelihood of a continuation is a great possibility,” he appealed to the police during Thursday’s monthly council meeting of the St James Municipal Corporation.

“I know you are a proactive group, so I am asking [that] whatever needs to be done to prevent any more loss of life, is done in that area as speedy as possible,” he added.

Following the meeting Murray, who was elected on a Jamaica Labour Party ticket, told the Jamaica Observer that Lilliput residents are concerned and want the problem addressed as quickly as possible.

“Lilliput has been quiet for quite a number of months now, almost over a year… we have not had anything happening,” he said.

There have been three murders in the community over the last week. Last Friday, a man only identified as Larry was gunned down in a section of Lilliput called Bugs Bunny.

It is unclear what led to his killing but the police are currently investigating.

Shortly after that, a man referred to as Jahnoy was shot dead in another section of the community called Wagon Wheel.

On Tuesday this week, the police scene of crime team was again called into Bugs Bunny in response to the slaying of a man called Shaka.

There are unconfirmed reports that the killings may be gang-related as thugs engage in a game of tit for tat.

During Thursday’s meeting, head of the St James police, Superintendent Eron Samuels indicated that Lilliput is on their radar and they are moving to address the challenges there.

“In the very recent times we’ve been having some issues in the Lilliput space. We are going, as best as we can, to get the information to cauterise the situation,” he said.

“It is indeed one of those cases where we are trying to ensure that the citizens along that stretch and [those] living in St James are feeling a bit safer,” Samuels added.

He outlined steps that have already been taken to address the situation in the troubled community.

“We have in place a curfew and we have increased the deployment of both the police and military within that space,” he told Murray.

The senior cop promised that more will be done.

“We will be doing some operations and we’ll definitely get some results based on what we are picking up and it may lead us outside of the space based on what we are doing,” said Samuels.

“I don’t like to put the chicken before the egg, but we will definitely ensure you that we will create some sort of stability back in the community of Lilliput,” he promised.