AN islandwide manhunt is now on for Kenroy “Papa” Willis who the police have described as a “high-risk target” linked to at least five murders committed across sections of St Andrew between May 2024 and May 2025.

Jamaica Observer sources say 25-year-old Willis was the main target of an early morning operation last Friday in the Five Miles area, off the Sligoville main road in St Catherine, which left five men dead and a 10-year-old girl nursing gunshot wounds.

The dead men have since been identified as Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) members Corporal Trevoy Shaw and Constable Devoney Rose; and civilians Errol Hussey, his son Malique Hussey, and nephew Javoun Cogle.

According to the Observer sources, Malique Hussey, otherwise called Mal Boss, is a known associate of Willis who is of a Rose Hall District, Lawrence Tavern, St Andrew, address.

Willis has been identified in the JCF’s Violence Producers Workbook as an alleged enforcer of the Rose Hall gang and a suspect in several serious violent crimes, including murder, shootings and robberies.

He is specifically wanted in connection with the October 26, 2024 murder of Verne Ewan Joseph along Essex Hall Main Road.

Willis has also been linked to the killing of Alexian Daley in Mahoney District, Lawrence Tavern, on May 26, 2024; Matthew Williams, who was killed at Lawrence Tavern Square on June 14, 2024; Oshane Blackwood, who was killed along Brooks Level Road, Stony Hill, on May 11, 2025.

Three of the five killings occurred within approximately five weeks in 2024, all in communities in and around Lawrence Tavern.

The sources say the police are now targeting several locations where Willis may have sought refuge or maintained connections, including Golden Spring, Lawrence Tavern, Glengoffe in St Catherine, and Bull Bay and Clarks Hill in St Andrew.

The police have previously conducted targeted raids as part of their efforts to locate Willis, and Friday’s operation was believed to be the latest move by the cops to nab him.

The sources say there was gunfire in areas outside the zone the police had cordoned off during the operation, and they suspect this was an effort by Willis, or his cronies, to distract them while they were being fired on from inside the house.

Willis has remained the subject of police interest throughout 2026, with published reports identifying him as wanted for murder and under investigation in connection with other violent crimes.

“Willis’s reported gang affiliation, alleged involvement in multiple murders, and associations with other suspected violent offenders have made him a subject of sustained police interest,” added the Observer source.