标签： Jamaica

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Caribbean Media Corporation – Four days after a brazen attack on a Trinidad police station left an acting officer dead and a large cache of weapons stolen, national law enforcement authorities announced Wednesday that a serving 28-year-old municipal police officer will face murder charges over the shocking incident, which senior officials have labeled an act of internal betrayal that traumatized the entire nation.

In an official statement, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) confirmed that acting on legal guidance from Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard SC, the municipal officer will also face three additional felony counts: robbery with violence, firearms trafficking, and illegal possession of ammunition.

Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro praised the investigative team for their rapid, detail-oriented work, noting that the operation aligned with the strict professional standards the TTPS upholds across all units. He emphasized that the swift progress has moved the case closer to delivering justice for the family and colleagues of slain acting Corporal Anusha Eversley, as well as for a public shaken by the breach of public trust.

Guevarro stressed that the corrupt actions of a small number of officers do not represent the wider force, adding that the oath of office binds all law enforcement personnel, regardless of whether they serve in municipal, transit, estate, special reserve or regular police units, to a higher public duty. “The lure of greed and quick money can never justify the betrayal of public trust,” he said. “For those who choose corruption and criminality, we will leave no stone unturned to remove you from among the officers who risk their lives daily to protect our citizens.” In a pointed closing remark, Guevarro reaffirmed the TTPS’s commitment to rooting out rogue officers, noting the service would continue to hold the line on the integrity of the police badge.

As the multi-pronged investigation moves forward, Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander told the Senate Tuesday that law enforcement has detained 10 people connected to the attack, including a 16-year-old minor. Authorities have officially classified the incident as a major national security breach, and Alexander confirmed that investigative teams have worked around the clock since Sunday’s attack to crack the case.

Alexander told legislators that all 10 detainees, ranging in age from 16 to 33, remain in police custody, and investigators have already recovered a large portion of the stolen firearms and ammunition. Recovered weapons include one MPX submachine gun, four shotguns, one revolver, and 39 pistols, alongside 900 rounds of ammunition, 39 pistol magazines and one MPX magazine.

With the investigation still in a sensitive phase awaiting further direction from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Alexander confirmed that the police leadership has already moved to implement sweeping, immediate institutional reforms to prevent similar breaches. Key changes include strict new accountability protocols for firearms storage and security, designed to close gaps that allowed the deadly attack.

The Homeland Security Minister assured the upper chamber of parliament that the attack on the municipal police precinct remains the top priority for the national security apparatus, with all available resources deployed to wrap up the investigation as quickly as possible.

In an update on a separate high-profile fatal shooting incident, Alexander told senators that police are also making progress in the quadruple murder that unfolded Sunday in the outlying community of Morvant. The attack, which saw gunmen open fire on a moving vehicle, left eight-year-old J’layna Armstrong among the dead. Alexander said that intelligence-led proactive patrols and increased surveillance are already in place to maintain community calm, several suspects have been taken into custody, and specialized units have been deployed to the area specifically to mitigate the risk of retaliatory gang violence.

ST JAMES, Jamaica — Law enforcement officers from the St James Police Division have deployed to the New Testament Church of God located on Water Lane, St James, to probe a fatal shooting that claimed the life of a female congregant shortly after she left a religious gathering.

Early preliminary accounts from local sources confirm the woman, identified by church officials only as a church sister, was struck by five gunshots as she stepped outside the church building at the conclusion of a prayer and fasting session. As of the latest updates, law enforcement authorities have not yet released any identifying information about the victim, as they continue working to notify next of kin and confirm personal details.

At this early stage of the investigation, investigators have not established a clear motive for the brazen public killing. Forensics teams and criminal investigators are currently combing through the crime scene, collecting physical evidence, interviewing witnesses and reviewing any available surveillance footage to piece together the sequence of events and identify the perpetrator or perpetrators behind the attack.

Over the past several years, Jamaica has faced a steady, alarming upward trend in reported bullying incidents among its youth population, according to new official data that has put renewed pressure on education authorities to address the growing crisis.

Figures compiled by the National Children’s Registry, an arm of Jamaica’s Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), and obtained by the Jamaica Observer, show that between January 1 and March 26 of 2026 alone, 49 bullying cases have already been logged to authorities. A monthly breakdown of the first quarter data reveals 22 incidents were reported in January, 11 in February, and 16 in March. A long-term trend analysis covering the past three full calendar years confirms this consistent growth: 130 reported cases in 2022, 140 in 2023, 151 in 2024, and a further jump to 167 recorded incidents in 2025.

The disturbing trend moved from statistical data to public outrage over the weekend, when a video showing a violent bullying incident circulated widely across Jamaican social media platforms. The footage captured uniformed students from Jamaica College, an all-boys secondary school located in St Andrew, brutally attacking a fellow student. In an official statement released Monday evening, school leadership condemned the behavior shown in the video as “reprehensible and unacceptable”, confirming that all individuals involved in the assault had been identified. The students will soon appear before the school’s Disciplinary Committee to face formal disciplinary action aligned with the institution’s internal policies.

Senator Dana Morris Dixon, Jamaica’s Minister for Education, Skills, Youth and Information, publicly condemned the viral incident, calling the recorded assault deeply disturbing. She confirmed that a full official investigation into the event has been launched to guide next steps. To ensure all affected parties receive appropriate support, Parliamentary Secretary in the education ministry Senator Marlon Morgan, Director for Safety and Security in Schools Richard Troupe, and regional school safety teams are scheduled to work directly with Jamaica College to provide therapeutic support and any other assistance required by the victim, witnesses, and the broader school community.

Speaking in response to the overall rising trend in bullying reports, Morgan acknowledged that the increasing numbers are a major cause for concern for the government. Despite the challenges, he emphasized that the ministry remains committed to ongoing work to reduce and eliminate all forms of bullying across the country’s education system.

“We will remain undaunted and redouble our efforts, including our resources, human and otherwise, to eradicate the scourge,” Morgan told the Jamaica Observer. He went on to frame bullying in schools as a reflection of broader societal challenges: “We know that schools are basically a microcosm of our society, and therefore some of the challenges that manifest at the level of households and indeed communities may spill over into our schools on account of the behaviour of some of the persons who may be predisposed to violence in and around them.”

Morgan explained that the government’s core goal is to build a national culture of peaceful conflict resolution. “As a Government, we are particularly keen on fostering a culture of peace in the country, and we continue to note that peace doesn’t mean the absence of conflict or dispute. What we mean by peace is that even where disputes and conflicts arise, people utilise appropriate, mature, and responsible ways of dealing with them rather than resorting to violence or engaging in vigilante justice or reprisals, because those things are counter-productive and it just fosters a cyclical culture of violence in the society.”

The education ministry upholds a strict zero-tolerance policy for all bullying incidents, and Morgan encouraged students, teachers, parents and other education stakeholders to use official, non-violent channels to resolve conflicts. To back this policy, the ministry has deployed a multi-disciplinary support network including national school safety coordination teams, police school resource officers, and full-time employed clinical psychologists and trained mental health professionals. These experts are available across the education system to provide targeted support and intervention to drive positive behavior change among young people.

As a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Jamaica is legally bound to protect children from all forms of violence, including bullying, physical harm, and psychological abuse. The convention notes that bullying violates children’s fundamental rights to education, health, and personal dignity, requiring signatory nations to implement binding legislative and social measures to prevent bullying, support victims, and maintain safe, inclusive learning environments.

In a step to strengthen national action against bullying, the education ministry launched BullyProofJA last October, a national public awareness campaign with a digital focus designed to address the widespread harm of bullying in Jamaican schools and communities. The campaign was paired with the official proclamation of October 7 as National Anti-Bullying Day, an initiative developed in partnership with the CPFSA. The proclamation, signed by Jamaica’s Governor General Sir Patrick Allen, reaffirms the country’s shared commitment to confronting bullying in all its forms and protecting the well-being and dignity of all children and young people across Jamaica.