On a quiet Thursday morning in rural Jamaica, a routine day of gardening work ended in brutal violence, leaving a community in shock and underscoring a troubling upward trend in violent crime across the parish of Manchester.
According to official reports from Jamaica Constabulary Force, the incident unfolded shortly after 9:00 a.m. in the New Berry district, a small residential area located just outside Knockpatrick. Rory Curtain, a 57-year-old landscaper and lifelong resident of Manchester’s Green Street, was carrying out routine landscaping maintenance on a private property when an unidentified gunman walked onto the premises and opened fire directly at him. Curtain was struck by gunfire and died at the scene before emergency responders could arrive.
In the wake of the killing, law enforcement has confirmed that Curtain’s murder marks the 11th homicide recorded in Manchester since the start of this year. That figure represents a staggering 120% increase compared to the same period in 2023, when only five murders were reported across the parish.
The sharp rise in fatal violence is not an unforeseen development for local police leadership. Just one week prior to the shooting, Superintendent Carey Duncan, head of the Manchester police division, publicly addressed the growing homicide surge, identifying two core drivers behind the spike: escalating gang-related conflicts and unresolved domestic disputes that have escalated to fatal violence. Duncan’s warning has now been borne out by the latest killing, putting renewed pressure on local authorities to curb the wave of violent crime affecting the parish.
Local community leaders have called for urgent action to address the root causes of the violence, as residents grapple with the latest loss of life in an already tense year.