(Jamaica Gleaner) Gang violence within the community of Grange Hill, Westmoreland, has left a grade 10 schoolboy, 16-year-old Carson Bennett, dead and his female schoolmate of Grange Hill High School hospitalised.
The incident, which took place some time after 5 p.m. on Thursday, has left a school community mourning as they try to understand why the authorities have not been able to rid the community of decades of crime and violence.
Head of the Westmoreland Police, Superintendent Othneil Dobson, told The Gleaner that their investigations are pointing them to the ongoing gang conflict between the Kings Valley Gang and the Ants Posse Gang.
Grange Hill has long been handcuffed by gang feud between the infamous Kings Valley Gang and the emerging Ants Posse Gang, a feud responsible for several murders committed within the parish for many decades.
Dobson said that the incident took place along the Belle Isle Road, where Grange Hill High School is located.
“What we know so far is that the two students were attacked and shot by two men said to be riding on motorbikes,” Dobson said.
“Initial information is that the male victim has some connection with the Kings Valley Gang and that may have led to him being attacked and killed,” explained Dobson, who recently took up duties as the new commanding officer for the Westmoreland Police Division.
In the meantime, Trevine Donaldson-Lawrence, principal of the school, said that the attack that claimed the life of one of her students and the injuring of another took place when they were walking home together following the school’s annual inter-house sports day activities.
“The students in question are among our high achievers. They are not involved in any conflicts within the school or in the community that we are aware of,” Donaldson-Lawrence said.
“This incident has nothing to do with any conflicts at school,” the principal explained in a Gleaner interview last night.
She noted that the school has reached out to the Ministry of Education and Youth on the matter, and it has been decided that given the gravity of the incident face-to-face classes will not be held today (Friday).
“For tomorrow, we will not be resuming face-to-face classes. However, we will be going online using the Google Classroom space,” the Grange Hill High School principal said.
Further, Donaldson-Lawrence shared that her team of administrators were reaching out to external human resource personnel from the restorative justice department and guidance counsellors within the region so that come Monday, a comprehensive trauma team would be in place to provide grief counselling for all stakeholders.
The shooting death and injury of the Grange Hill High schoolboy comes just a week after a stabbing incident that claimed the life of a 14-year-old schoolboy at Irwin High School in St James.
That incident has left another schoolboy, a 15-year-old, indicted on murder charges.
Meanwhile, Dobson said that his team is on the ground within the Grange Hill space, ensuring that proper investigation is done and that the area remains safe for the residents to continue to freely move around their community.
