St. Andrew Gas Station Worker Shot in Hold-Up as Police Report Arrests and Court Rulings Islandwide

A pump attendant was shot and wounded during a robbery at a Total service station on Dinervy Road in St. Andrew around 1:36 p.m. on Thursday, police said. Officers are searching for a group of men who held up the worker at the Total Propane location before opening fire and fleeing. Investigators believe the suspects are tied to a syndicate behind a series of service station robberies across the corporate area. The injured woman was rushed to hospital for treatment while inquiries continue.

In St. James, police have identified Alfius Reid, a Gutters resident believed to be of unsound mind, as the man whose body firefighters retrieved from a pit on Tuesday. Reid was murdered between Monday and Tuesday, suffered several gunshot wounds, and was dumped in the base of an abandoned latrine. Firefighters used ladders to reach the area and remove his remains.

St. Elizabeth detectives on Tuesday charged 38-year-old building contractor Joseph Finnikin, also known as Bug, Tyson, or Contractor, of Lindos Hill district in Petersfield, Westmoreland, with murder and using a firearm to commit a felony. The charges came four days after his 20-year-old girlfriend, Anishka Thompson, was shot dead in Hilltop, Parity. Finnikin initially told Half-Way Tree police that around 8:30 a.m. last Friday Thompson had playfully picked up his licensed firearm and that he heard a loud explosion while trying to take it from her. The matter was first treated as a death investigation before being upgraded to a murder case.

In St. Thomas, a 20-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy were arrested after police seized a green and black imitation firearm at a club party in Trinityville on Monday. Officers who entered the venue said the adult was seen handing the weapon to the teenager. The man was held on suspicion of possessing a prohibited weapon, and the item was sent to the Mount Bay Criminal Investigation Bureau for further checks. The teen was later apprehended in the parish.

Motorist O'Neil Wilson paid $439,800 to settle 80 outstanding traffic tickets during the Kingston and St. Andrew traffic ticket public day at the National Arena on Wednesday, after a presiding judge dismissed 12 of his 92 charges. Wilson encouraged other drivers to use the two-day initiative running Wednesday, July 8, and Thursday, July 9, 2026, when more than 43,000 outstanding tickets are expected to be cleared. The programme is being run with the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the Island Traffic Authority, and the Ministry of National Security's Ticket Management System.

In Trinidad, 25-year-old Jamaican Deondre Markland has been charged with the murder of businessman Sterling Francois, 45, whose bloodied body was found inside his home on June 20. Markland, arrested on June 26, was charged on July 4 following legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions and appeared in court earlier this week, with the matter adjourned to October 30 for a status hearing. A relative who went to check on Francois after unanswered calls found the front door closed but unlocked, blood-stained footprints inside, and Francois lying face down, naked and covered in blood at the top of a staircase. Investigators found blood spatter throughout the house and recovered a machete believed to be the murder weapon along with a plastic cup. Police said Francois returned home around 8:40 p.m. on June 19 with a male companion, and a visitor was reportedly seen leaving shortly after midnight carrying a knapsack before boarding a brown 4x4 pickup. Relatives reported several items missing, including an iPhone, laptop, PlayStation, and wallet. Francois owned several businesses, including an auto rental company.

People's National Party General Secretary Dr. Dayton Campbell has agreed to publicly apologise to Cabinet Minister Daryl Vaz and pay $1.5 million in costs to settle a defamation claim Vaz brought nearly three years ago. The voluntary out-of-court settlement was signed on Wednesday, closing a dispute that began in 2023 after Campbell made comments about Vaz on a political platform in Northwest Clarendon. Campbell said he was willing to apologise and move forward, while Vaz described the resolution as a mature step taken for families, friends, and Jamaica.