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KINGSTON, Jamaica — A senseless act of violent crime has shaken St Andrew’s bustling commercial district, after a 68-year-old courier working for a local financial firm was gunned down in broad daylight during an attempted robbery on Half-Way Tree Road Friday afternoon.

The victim has been identified as Lawrence Kessna, a resident of Phase 2 in Seaview Gardens, St Andrew. The fatal shooting followed a physical struggle between Kessna and the would-be robber, who targeted him shortly after he completed a banking transaction, law enforcement officials confirmed.

According to initial police reports, the incident unfolded at approximately 1:22 p.m., when Kessna had visited a local bank branch to cash a J$10 million cheque on behalf of his employer. The funds were earmarked for customer disbursements across multiple distribution sites, and Kessna carried the cash in a plain grey knapsack when he left the bank building.

As Kessna exited, the suspect immediately moved to seize the knapsack. A struggle broke out when the victim resisted the theft attempt, and the attacker — failing to wrest the bag away — drew a weapon and fired multiple shots, striking Kessna in the upper body. Immediately after the shooting, the perpetrator fled the scene on a motorcycle that had been waiting nearby for a getaway. Bystanders alerted emergency services quickly, and police transported the wounded 68-year-old to Kingston Public Hospital, where medical staff pronounced him dead upon arrival. The grey knapsack holding the cash remained with Kessna and was turned over to law enforcement at the hospital.

In the wake of the brazen midday attack, Jamaica’s top law enforcement officials have issued a firm condemnation of the violence, while extending condolences to Kessna’s family, friends, colleagues and the local business community mourning the loss.

“We will not allow criminals to turn our commercial centres into hunting grounds,” said Assistant Commissioner Michael Phipps, head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) Area Four division. Phipps noted that he has issued direct orders for expanded, sustained high-visibility patrols across St Andrew’s commercial districts, a measure designed to disrupt criminal planning, deter potential attacks, and apprehend perpetrators before they can strike.

Phipps confirmed that investigations into the attack are already underway, with forensic evidence collection ongoing and law enforcement partnering closely with the local business community and other key stakeholders to identify and locate the attacker. Financial hubs across the region have been designated a top priority for both investigative work and increased proactive patrols going forward.

In a public safety advisory released alongside the condemnation, Phipps reiterated a longstanding JCF offer for free police assistance to businesses transporting large sums of cash, urging operators to take advantage of the service to reduce risk.

“We continue to urge business operators to ensure strong security measures when transporting especially large amounts of cash. The JCF continues to alert and advise persons doing large financial transactions and transporting large sums of cash to contact the police who are more than willing to assist, free of charge and I repeat free of charge,” Phipps said.

The assistant commissioner added that public safety remains the JCF’s top priority, with stepped-up operations set to continue in high-risk areas around banks, commercial offices, and ATMs. He urged the public to remain calm but maintain a heightened state of vigilance in these zones.

“The JCF remains committed to restoring order and public confidence. We will not relent until those responsible are held,” Phipps said.

On a recent Friday in Junction, a community located within Jamaica’s St Elizabeth parish, local law enforcement rolled out a new proactive road safety outreach effort by distributing 30 free protective helmets to local motorcyclists. The initiative marks a expanded push by police to address a persistent public safety crisis that has seen motorcyclists consistently account for the majority of traffic-related deaths in the region.

Superintendent Coleridge Minto, head of the St Elizabeth police division, outlined the current state of road safety in the parish during the distribution event. So far in 2025, the division has recorded 12 confirmed road fatalities, a slight decline from the 14 deaths reported during the same period in 2024. But despite this small overall improvement, Minto emphasized that motorcyclists remain the group most at risk, accounting for a growing share of traffic deaths year over year.

According to Minto’s data, 14 motorcyclists lost their lives in crashes across St Elizabeth in 2024, a figure that has already risen to 16 in 2025. Even with just over half of 2025 completed, six motorcyclists have already died in traffic incidents in the parish this year. This grim trend has pushed local police to combine traditional enforcement efforts with new preventive and educational programming to reduce preventable deaths.

“Law enforcement patrols and compliance checks will continue, as they have proven critical to upholding road safety rules,” Minto stated. “But we recognize that enforcement alone is not enough to reverse this trend. That is why we are doubling down on public education efforts to raise awareness of the risks riders face every day on our roads.”

As part of the expanded education push, Minto confirmed that local police officers have been assigned to deliver road safety talks at venues across the parish, including primary and secondary schools, local church congregations, and regular community organization meetings. The helmet distribution, he added, is just one part of a broader, long-term strategy to cut motorcyclist fatalities and make St Elizabeth’s roads safer for all travelers.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — As Jamaica observes its annual Child’s Month, a major philanthropic initiative led by the NCB Foundation is opening new doors for hundreds of children struggling with undiagnosed vision impairments across the island. The organization has contributed $525,000 worth of comprehensive vision care kits to the Jamaica Society for the Blind (JSB), rolling out much-needed eye health services to young people in underserved communities.

For sixth-grade student Ashayna Williams of John Austin Primary School, the donation has already reshaped her daily classroom experience. Before receiving her new prescription glasses through the program, she struggled to make out text written on the front board, and frequent eye strain made concentrating on lessons nearly impossible. “At first, I worried I would dislike wearing glasses, but now I love them — they even look just like regular sunglasses,” Williams shared. “I can see so much clearer already.”

The cross-sector partnership between NCB Foundation and JSB was built to expand JSB’s existing pediatric vision care program, which delivers free vision screenings, comprehensive eye health assessments, custom prescription glasses, adaptive assistive devices, and ongoing care to children from low-income households who cannot otherwise access these services. As part of this Child’s Month activation, JSB’s clinical teams conducted on-site screenings at five primary schools across Jamaica. After initial evaluations, roughly 200 students were flagged for follow-up assessments and targeted interventions to address their vision needs.

John Austin Primary School was one of the first campuses to host the screening program, after school leaders noticed persistent literacy gaps among multiple grade levels that could not be explained by other factors. When the vision screenings were completed, school principal Ainsworth Williams noted that the initiative uncovered a critical barrier to learning that would likely have remained undiagnosed without the program. “Our literacy coordinator Keisha Taylor flagged that students across multiple grades were consistently struggling during reading activities, so we knew we had to dig deeper,” Principal Williams explained. “What we found was that these kids weren’t struggling to learn — they were struggling to see. We are thrilled our students now have the support they need, and we’re confident this will make a huge difference for both their academic progress and self-confidence.”

Ashayna Williams is among the first group of children to benefit from the vision kit donation, which brings critical eye care support directly to young people living with unaddressed visual challenges. Sandra Harris, coordinator of JSB’s vision center, emphasized that undiagnosed childhood vision impairment remains a widespread, underaddressed issue across Jamaica that directly undermines educational outcomes and young people’s confidence. “Far too many children go months or even years without a vision diagnosis, and the impacts almost always show up first in the classroom: reading difficulties, persistent eye strain, reduced class participation, and fading self-esteem,” Harris said. “The NCB Foundation’s generous support lets us reach more children much earlier, deliver life-changing assessments and interventions, and remove barriers that can hold back a child’s learning and long-term development.”

Beyond the monetary donation and vision kit contribution, the NCB Foundation also organized a special community engagement day for students from John Austin Primary at JSB’s headquarters. The event included interactive, hands-on STEM activities designed and led by local education non-profit STEM Builders Jamaica, giving students the chance to explore new skills in an accessible, supportive environment.

Kadeen Finn Miller, program administrator at the NCB Foundation, explained that the initiative is rooted in the foundation’s core mission: removing preventable barriers to help children fully engage in learning and daily life. “Far too many young people are falling behind in school because of vision challenges that are completely treatable,” Finn Miller said. “At NCB Foundation, we hold firm that something as basic as access to quality vision care should never stand between a child and their right to learn, participate confidently, and reach their full potential. Through this partnership with the Jamaica Society for the Blind, we are grateful to have the opportunity to remove this barrier for the children who need this support most.”