Mayor of St Ann’s Bay, Michael Belnavis, says he has asked the police to take a tough stance against criminal elements in St. Ann.
Mayor Belnavis, who is also chairman of the St Ann Municipal Corporation, SAMC, says the Council and private sector leaders in the parish are working closely with the police.
He says he wants force to be used against the criminals.
Within a 24-hour time frame, between Wednesday and yesterday, criminals were responsible for two gun incidents in Ocho Rios in the parish.
In the first incident, a security guard employed to the SAMC, 26-year-old Jermaine Jones, was shot in the neck while he carried out his duties at the transport centre.
Mr. Jones resisted the demands of a gunman to hand over cash he collected from transport operators using the park.
He was shot after wrestling with the gunman.
Mr. Jones is on life support at Hospital.
On Thursday afternoon, just 500 metres from the transport centre, a gunman failed in his bid to hold up staff and steal cash from a Western Union Money Store at the Mutual Security Mall, also in the tourism resort of Ocho Rios.
Police have video footage of the suspected gunman as he exited the store.
He walked away empty handed after the cashier called out, “The Blood of Jesus” in response to the gunman’s demand for money as he pointed a gun at her face.
The two incidents have rattled the business community and people in the town.
