Minister of National Security Hon. Peter Bunting has sought to allay fears of residents from a section of Seaview Gardens called “Marley Bottom” following an attack on their community last Friday which left four persons dead and two injured.

    The Minster yesterday afternoon visited the community accompanied by high-ranking members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) including Assistant Commissioner George Quallo, who is in charge of Area 4 and Superintendent in charge of Operations in the St. Andrew South Division, Lennox Harper.

    They visited the homes of some of the victims and spoke with the residents guaranteeing that there will be a continued police presence in the community. The minister also assured the family members that there would be no stone left unturned in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

        “We want to reassure them that the police will be maintaining a strong presence right through out and that they are pursuing leads vigorously” said Minister Bunting.

    The Minister also told the relatives of victims that by Monday (today) representatives from the Victim Support Unit and the Chaplaincy Unit will be visiting the community to give them additional support.

    Minster Bunting also used the opportunity to make an appeal to residents to provide the police with as much information as they can,  noting that he did not want one more drop of blood to be spilled in the community.

    “We were told that the perpetrators are known. There are many safe ways that information can be passed on and we encourage anyone who has information to make that information available” the Minster said.

    He also said there are persons overseas directing the activities of criminals in the community and giving instructions and orders for criminal activities.

“Those persons are living in comfort outside of the violence that is going on and you can’t be in their service, while leaving orphaned children... The number of orphaned children we have seen is really sad”.

    The Minister said he is very concerned about the resurgence of violence in Seaview Gardens. He said despite the community's history of violence, in recent times there has been a significant reduction in homicides in the area so it is very disappointing to see the reemergence of that type of violence this year.

    “We have to nip this trend in the bud and make sure that we maintain the gains we have made over the past few years”
     The Minister reaffirmed his commitment to the fight against crime and criminal activity noting that seeing the pain and suffering of the grandmothers and other family members of one of the victims has motivated him even more to continue to do all he can as Minister of National Security to stamp out the criminals islandwide.

    “I am absolutely recommitting myself to the task and I know that the Commissioner and all the officers in charge of this division are determined that this situation is not going to get out of control” Minister Bunting said.

    In the meantime ACP Quallo informed that four persons were taken into custody following the attack.  So far one person has been released but the rest are still being held.

“We are adamant that we must get to the bottom of this and justice will be served. That is where we are taking it” the ACP said.