RESIDENTS of Grange Hill were left in shock Wednesday when brazen gunmen killed a man in front of a basic school in the Westmoreland community.

According to the police, Javaine Lue, 26, of Patrick Drive in the area, was shot six times after dropping off a woman and child at the school around 9:00 am. He rode off on his motorcycle when he was shot by two assailants. He was pronounced dead on the spot.

Students at the school were sent home for the day following the fatal incident.

The murder of Lue was the latest in what Westmoreland Western’s Member of Parliament Morland Wilson described as a “disturbing trend” of murders in the area recently.

“I want to express condolences to the family, and I want to say that this is something we need to put a stop to. The police really need to step up their work. I know they are working but there is still a gap somewhere because this murder that took place was just metres from the police station,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“We are seeing a wanton disregard for law enforcers in Grange Hill. Criminals are showing no consideration for law enforcers in the area and it is a disturbing trend,” Wilson said.

According to the parliamentarian, the murder was particularly disturbing because it took place at the beginning of the school day while children were in classes.

“I am again calling for the implementation of a state of public emergency in the parish of Westmoreland on a whole. [The one that was introduced here] was extremely successful, with the curtailing of criminal activities in Savanna-la-Mar, and we are seeing where criminals are migrating to Grange Hill and other areas. Something needs to be done,” he said.

The Jamaica Labour Party’s Bafil Thompson, councillor/caretaker of Grange Hill, said the area has been a hotbed for violent crimes for the last six years, and he also called for other increased security measures in the area.

“It’s sad that it’s like this but it is the reality for the people living in Grange Hill. We wish we had a ZOSO (zone of special operations) here, too, until we get rid of some of the problems. More police presence in the area would be better because when the space is occupied by the security force, idle hands have less place to play but right now we are just living with it. It’s not nice but that’s what we’re doing,” Thompson said.

— Daina Davy