The St James police were kept busy on Monday as gunmen ran amok across the parish, triggering worry from representatives on both sides of the political divide.

There were at least three shooting incidents and two gun seizures in the parish. As early as 4:40 am, Roger Sterling was shot and injured during a confrontation with the police in the Flanker community. He later succumbed to his injury. The Independent Commission of Investigations has since launched an investigation.

Less than two hours later another man was shot dead, this time by unknown assailants on Fustic Road in the vicinity of Charles Gordon Market.

The third shooting saw two men killed and another injured in the Mount Salem community. They have been identified as Bowe Downer and Gavin Mills, both of Mount Salem addresses.

A 30-year-old male was also taken into custody after a .38 revolver was seized by police on mobile patrol along Barnett Street.

Similarly, in the community of Aldelphi, the police seized a single-action browning pistol during a targeted raid.

As of Monday, St James recorded 56 murders since the start of the year, a 39 per cent reduction compared to the 92 murders that were registered during the same period in 2022. At the same time, shootings are also down by 42 per cent, according the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

However, Councillor Richard Vernon (Jamaica Labour Party, Montego Bay South Division) told the Jamaica Observer that he is concerned that these acts of violence will affect the parish’s economy.

“I am worried about crime in general in Montego Bay because what a lot of people don’t understand is that crime can make the cost of living and our survival as Jamaicans harder. The regular person may see an act of crime and don’t pay much attention to what is happening there, but they don’t calculate at the same time that this can really make our lives harder,” said Vernon, who is also the deputy mayor of Montego Bay.

Pointing to past conversations on the issue of crime in the parish, Vernon said he believes the factors motivating crime are changing.

“What I also have internalised is that … maybe we need to go back to the drawing board and do some more studies on this thing. Some time ago we used to say crime is connected to poverty. I’m not sure if that’s the case because I see developments happening, buildings are going up, so construction work are available. We have the logistics hub. We have so many things happening, so I’m not sure if it is related to poverty,” Vernon told the Observer.

While he acknowledged that there has been a drastic decrease in the number of murders across the parish since the start of the year, Vernon said there is heightened worry that crime may affect the business community .

“If we can’t get persons [to] come into Montego Bay to do business, or if we can’t get to our regular businesses to open on a daily basis and serve the public, that hurt us economically. And if we can’t get more persons investing in the space, it is going to hurt us as well, and this is why I’m saying it makes our lives harder,” said Vernon.

“If people don’t feel safe going into the market to purchase their ground provision and otherwise, they won’t go there. They are driving people from the area and this will hurt the vendors as well as make your life harder. They are driving customers to more developed, safer spaces where they can purchase the same thing,” he said.

Councillor Kerry Thomas (People’s National Party, Mount Salem Division) also expressed concern about Monday’s incident in his division.

He noted that, though a zone of special operations is currently in effect in Mount Salem, there have been constant reports of crime in the community.

“Even with the zone of special operations, the criminals tend to be brazen enough to have shootings even within proximity of police stations. We had one last year that was even much closer to this police station than this one, so the criminals don’t seem to be swayed by the police or the police stations,” Thomas said.