Jamaicans urged to repent as mass murders increase
It was prophesied that 2024 would be one of the bloodiest years in Jamaica, even as security and government officials boasted about a reduction in murders in several parishes across the island.
Last week, the country recorded the bloodiest seven days since the start of this year, with 44 murders recorded.
Jamaicans have been warned that the nation is under judgement. Several calls have been made for three consecutive days of national mourning, prayer, fasting and repentance. This call has intensified in the wake of several mass shootings in the last few months, with the most recent one being the murder of five men in Waltham Road in Kingston.
Six people were shot, five fatally in separate incidents late Monday evening. Patrons were reportedly at a bar in the area when they were attacked and shot. The police have launched an investigation into the matter.
Five people were also killed and several injured in a shooting at a soccer match in the Rockfort community in East Kingston in October.
In what has been the bloodiest massacre this year, eight people were fatally shot, while several others were injured in the community of Cherry Tree Lane in Four Paths, Clarendon in August. The incident was said to have been as a result of ongoing gang violence.
Jamaica has one of the world’s highest homicide rates among countries with reliable statistics. As of Nov. 23, 1,039 people were reported killed, down from 1,262 reported last year, according to police data.