Maxfield Avenue residents want gang war to end

Residents of Maxfield Avenue in St Andrew are crying out for urgent help, as they say a year-long war, which pits several lanes against each other, has resulted in the loss of many lives.

"If yuh wah keep yuh life, yuh a fi come out. A from ina last year the war a gwane and the most recent shooting in the area was last week Thursday. I have to leave here before Christmas," one resident told THE STAR. "The community tense and everybody ina fear. And a just innocent people a get involved ina the shootings and killings. For example, if your family ina something and dem caa catch your family, a you dem a come offa."

She said that men in the community are venturing to other areas and committing crimes.

"So man offa dem now. So our place ago always get targeted and we just nuh know when we ago siddung ina the wrong spot or walk pon the wrong road," she said.

One man, who lives in the Rome area of the community, says merely sitting or standing at his gate after certain hours could get him killed.

"It dangerous. Memba seh we basically deh pon the road and the yard dem connect. Yuh caa stop a man from run through yuh yard wid him gun when a man a run offa him. And when shot a tear, yuh nuh know weh shot a fly," he said. "We need something fi gwane now, because there is a ZOSO (zone of special operations) checkpoint between Rosseau Lane and William Lane and dat nah stop the violence. And the war stretch straight down to Lincoln Road and dem place deh. We caa venture ina dem place deh."

In July, Senior Superintendent Wayne Cameron, commanding officer for the St Andrew South Police Division, told THE STAR that there were many shootings and murders in the division, because there are 68 active gangs causing havoc.

In October, two bullet-riddled, headless bodies were discovered in Plum Lane. They were identified as Mark Wellington and Leonardo Hendricks, both of Maxfield Avenue addresses. It is believed that they were killed in connection with the ongoing gang violence in Rome.

Head of the St Andrew North Division, Superintendent Aaron Fletcher, told THE STAR that it is believed that some criminals have fled from the Maxfield Avenue and Rose Town areas and have dispersed in his division.

"The guys from Maxfield and Rose Town would have had their comfort zone in the Plum Lane and Collins Close general area," he said. Fletcher said persons engaged in the gang conflict in the Maxfield area would've moved out of the community.

"I believe by some means, they have managed to get those guys who would've been their adversaries to come into the space, and then they would've executed their act," he said. Fletcher said this is a normal practice for players in crime.

""They tend to be in transit, and they will move from one community to the other, whether they are not known or where they wouldn't be readily or easily detected," he said.