Jamaica has declared a state of emergency in the Caribbean nation’s southern Clarendon parish after eight people were killed in separate gun attacks on Sunday night, including a seven-year-old boy.
Seven people were killed when gunmen opened fire at a birthday party in Cherry Tree Lane, Clarendon, while an eighth person was killed in a second shooting.
The announcement was made by Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Wednesday.
“This is an opportunity for the government to mobilize fully to have a very serious focus on gangs,” Holness told a press conference at his office. “We cannot allow murders to be normalized in our country.”
The prime minister did not immediately detail what regulations would be imposed, but these can typically involve nightly curfews, longer detention periods without formal charges and the ability by police to search properties without warrants.
Local police fatally shot Steve Smith, who was considered one of the suspects in the Clarendon murders, during a confrontation on Wednesday, according to the Jamaica Observer.
“He was wanted by the May Pen police for murder for some time and was a person of interest in several other murder investigations,” local police said on Wednesday night.
Holness said he hoped the measure would prevent reprisal killings, saying intelligence had warned there was a “very high probability” of retaliation attempts.
The United States advises its citizens to reconsider travel to Jamaica due to crime, and to avoid Clarendon altogether, ranking the parish as “off-limits” for its embassy personnel.
Meanwhile, Jamaica is a popular tourist destination in the US and UK. More than 1 million Americans visit Jamaica each year, and the country was the most-visited Caribbean destination for UK tourists in 2022. Tourism bosses are hoping to attract 250,000 visitors from the UK and Ireland next year.
Five people have been arrested so far in relation with Sunday’s shootings, Holness said.
Jamaica last year ranked as the second-deadliest country in the Latin American and Caribbean region, according to a study by Insight Crime, with 60.9 homicides per 100,000 people, second only to the small island state of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
Holness noted that while the number of gangs estimated to be active in the country has shrunk from 400 to 185 in five years, the figures remain “very high.”
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has been looking to clamp down on rising gun violence through stronger law enforcement and stemming imports of illegal firearms.
Around 87% of guns traced in the Caribbean come from the United States, according to the US government.
Last month officials in the country said the it will contend with food shortages in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, which is estimated to have destroyed over $6.4 million in food crops and the supporting infrastructure.
The Jamaican agriculture minister said farmers who grow crops in greenhouses in the parishes of Clarendon, Manchester and St Elizabeth had been the worst hit.