ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — A brutal early-morning attack that left one young man dead and two other family members critically injured has spurred top local law enforcement to urge parish residents to pursue peaceful solutions for personal and domestic conflicts, rather than letting tensions escalate into lethal violence. The incident unfolded Saturday in the quiet community of Stephenson Town, located near Southfield in the parish of St Elizabeth, when a 19-year-old local resident allegedly attacked his two brothers and their mother with a machete at their shared family home. According to official police accounts, the violence broke out shortly before 1 a.m. 31-year-old Travis Williams, a local laborer and Stephenson Town resident, suffered multiple severe slash wounds across his body and was pronounced dead at the scene. The 19-year-old suspect’s 14-year-old brother and 43-year-old mother were rushed to nearby medical facilities with life-threatening injuries, and remained in critical condition following the attack. Law enforcement officials took the 19-year-old suspect into custody shortly after the incident. On Sunday, Superintendent Coleridge Minto, head of the St Elizabeth Police Division, spoke publicly about the tragedy to highlight a gap that many residents are missing: a free, professional support resource already available to help de-escalate domestic and interpersonal conflicts before they turn deadly. Minto emphasized that this fatal attack is just the latest in a disturbing trend of violence driven by unresolved personal disputes sweeping the parish so far this year. To date, St Elizabeth has recorded 14 homicide cases in the current year, and nearly 60% of those deaths can be traced back to interpersonal conflict or domestic abuse, according to police data. “The most recent murder stems from a family dispute. I continue to speak to persons in the parish that the division has a domestic violence intervention centre, it is located in Santa Cruz right at the police station and so persons who have conflicts, disputes that they are unable to solve, we encourage them and appeal to them to seek the services of the police,” Minto stated during his Sunday address in Santa Cruz. The intervention center, Minto confirmed, staffs a team of fully trained professionals specifically prepared to support families and individuals navigating contentious domestic conflicts. “There are trained individuals at this location that are willing and ready to assist persons with domestic disputes, it is quite unfortunate this situation which unfolded,” he added. Minto’s public appeal comes as local law enforcement works to curb the rising tide of preventable violence linked to unresolved domestic tension in the parish, pushing residents to reach out for support rather than resorting to violence when disputes arise.
WATCH: St Elizabeth police appeal for use of domestic violence centre amid deadly family dispute
