‘Enough is enough’, says Holness

"Enough is enough," declared Prime Minister Andrew Holness in his response to Monday's fatal shooting of three persons, including two schoolboys, in St James. 

Holness described the incident as a "senseless act of terror".

"This barbaric and merciless act of terror demonstrates once again that gunmen and gangs are a clear and present threat to the foundations of our free and democratic society," he said in statement Tuesday morning.

"Through the wanton use of violence, gangs and gunmen hold entire communities hostage, depriving citizens of their economic livelihood and their rights to move, speak, and associate freely in their communities,"

Seven-year-old Justin Perry and his nine-year-old schoolmate Nacholive Smith, of Chetwood Memorial Primary, and a man who remains unidentified, were shot and killed by gunmen while travelling in a taxi at around 6:00 p.m. near Meggie Top in the Flower Hill community of the volatile Salt Spring area. 

The boys were on their way from school.

The Salt Spring area is the site of an ongoing gang feud. Four killings were recorded in the last two weeks in the community. 

Last Friday in St Andrew, gunmen shot and killed six-year-old Arianna Salmon, a grade one student of St Jude's Primary, along with her grandmother Marie Salmon, 42 and Michael Smith, 34. 

The Holness administration has faced backlash from rights groups and the Opposition People's National Party over its use of rights-limiting states of public emergency in routine crime fighting, the pursuit of certain measures to restrict constitutionally-guaranteed bail and the imposition of mandatory sentences for certain crimes.  

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