Portmore shooting kills teen and delivery worker as police probe separate incidents across Jamaica

Two people were killed and a third person was wounded when armed attackers stormed a home in Nago Head, Portmore, St. Catherine, early Sunday. The Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency is investigating the incident, which police said unfolded around 4:30 a.m. along White Lane.

Officers reported that men carrying high-powered rifles forced their way into the dwelling and opened fire on occupants in different parts of the house. The deceased were identified as 19-year-old delivery man Michael Elliot, also known as Babysur Bull, of Clifton District, St. Catherine, and 17-year-old Kenriky Banks, also known as Welty Stones, of Nago Head. A 27-year-old pregnant woman was shot in her upper body in another section of the house. All three victims were taken to Spanish Town Hospital, where Elliot and Banks were pronounced dead and the woman was admitted for treatment. Investigators recovered nearly 30 spent casings from high-powered weapons and handguns at the scene.

In St. Elizabeth, farmers found a decomposing body in bushes along Coke Drive in Santa Cruz around 9:00 a.m. Sunday and alerted police. Detectives said the remains were badly decomposed and appeared to be those of a male. It was the third body found in the parish in just over a week, following the discovery of a torso in Aberdeen last Thursday and, on June 11, the remains of missing 40-year-old pharmacy technician Kadesha Mloud at another location in the parish.

The state-owned Jamaica Urban Transit Company is offering a $1 million reward for information leading to the identification of a man believed to have deliberately set fire to a compressed natural gas bus at the Spanish Town terminal on May 30. Passengers and the driver had already left the vehicle and no injuries were reported. Management released CCTV footage of a suspect and said the same individual may be linked to a 2024 bus fire at the Half Way Tree transportation centre. Managing Director Owen Ellington urged the public to study the images and contact Crime Stop at 311 or the nearest police station.

In Portland, police took more than a dozen Haitians into custody in West Portland on Sunday morning after they reportedly came ashore along the parish's northern coastline shortly after midnight, in the vicinity of Hope or St. Margaret's Bay. Sources said the group included 10 adult males, four adult females and two children, who were held at the Port Antonio Police Station for screening and medical checks. Residents reportedly alerted officers after seeing people disembarking from a boat, and investigators were working to determine whether others had left the area before police arrived.

Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness rejected claims that Jamaica was forced into signing a memorandum of understanding with the United States to accommodate third-country nationals. "Was our hands forced? Were we coerced? Absolutely not," Holness said, adding that operational details of the arrangement were not yet complete and that the government would brief the public once implementation was finalised. He said the United States had asked friendly countries to help manage immigration challenges and urged Jamaicans not to view the partnership solely through the lens of past decades.