Top Greenville bar shooting lifts Manchester murder toll to 22

A gunman opened fire at a bar in Top Greenville near Mandeville early Tuesday, killing one man and wounding another, police said. The attack has pushed Manchester’s murder count to 22 so far this year.

Police identified the dead man as Sagar Martin, a Greenville resident who was among patrons at the bar around 12:30 a.m. when the attacker struck. Both men were taken to hospital, where Martin was pronounced dead on arrival and the other man was admitted for treatment. Officers said Martin had been on bail for the March 2017 murder of 40-year-old William Granville, who was stabbed near a nightclub in Nashville, Mandeville. Tuesday’s shooting followed Saturday’s double killing of Greenville resident Sadifa Henry and Hart’s resident Denika Panol in a taxi at Horseshoe Curve on Calidonia Road in Mandeville.

Separately, the Jamaica Constabulary Force clarified how close protection officers are assigned to public officials. In a Tuesday statement, the force said specially trained members of the Protective Services Division provide that security where office duties or circumstances require it. Assignment is not automatic in every case, though certain constitutional and public offices attract protection by virtue of the post. Serving ministers receive close protection because of their portfolios; for former ministers who remain members of parliament, continuation depends on a documented threat and risk assessment. Where risk no longer justifies dedicated cover, alternative measures may be considered. The JCF stressed that specialised resources are finite and must be deployed where a security need is demonstrable.

Also Monday, a passenger who suffered breathing difficulties on a Jamaica Urban Transit Company Route 512 bus between Mandeville and Kingston later died at hospital. After a fellow commuter alerted the driver, the bus was diverted toward the nearest hospital and intercepted by police who helped transfer the passenger. Medical staff pronounced the person dead. JUTC praised the driver and officers and offered condolences to the family.

The Independent Commission of Investigations is examining the fatal police shooting of a man during an alleged shootout in Crescent District, St. Catherine, on Monday. Police said officers conducting a roughly 5:00 a.m. raid for wanted persons checked a parked vehicle that seemed abandoned, heard a sound inside, and encountered a man who allegedly pointed a firearm at them. He was shot, fell while holding the weapon, and was pronounced dead at Spanish Town Hospital. A Hi-Point pistol with a magazine containing four rounds was seized. Officers described the deceased as about 5'10", of brown complexion, wearing a brown pullover shirt, with a plaited hairstyle.

Meanwhile, the Fish Children Foundation renewed calls for clearer legal limits on schools’ power to bar students from graduation after Holland High School excluded 16-year-old honour student Cadidra Warel from last month’s ceremony despite her selection to deliver the keynote address at the valedictory. Principal Dale Evans said she failed to sit the school’s mandatory Grade 9 Electronic Document Preparation and Management examination, a board-approved requirement communicated to parents. Warel, who kept an average above 80 percent and was recommended for eight CSEC subjects, said she spent graduation day in tears. "It was a very painful," she told the news. "I watched everyone graduate knowing that I worked just as hard." Her mother, Nicolen McKenzie, questioned why her daughter was fit to represent the school yet barred from graduating. The foundation said the family reported the matter to the Ministry of Education about two weeks before the ceremony without reported intervention beforehand, echoing concerns from a recent Oscar Primary School dispute, and urged statutory safeguards plus ministry guidance so decisions remain lawful, reasonable, procedurally fair and centred on the child’s best interest.