The 17-year-old student who was among two people shot and killed in Pole Yard, Arnos Vale Saturday night might not have been targeted.
The teen Jason St. Rose, a student of the St. Vincent Grammar School, and Jomarl John, a 30-year-old vendor, were killed, and Sylvanus Matthias, 63, was injured and taken to hospital for treatment.
The two deaths brought the homicide count this year to 28.
“John was shot at his business place and a distance away the student’s body was discovered,” acting Assistant Commissioner of Police with responsibility for crime-fighting, Trevor “Buju” Bailey said in response to a question at a press conference in Kingstown on Wednesday.
“Now was he targeted? I can’t say explicitly at this moment that he was. I know from visiting the scene and being part of the investigative team that it appears as if after the shooter shot John in the shop and was fleeing, he encountered the young man and he was shot. So, I can’t explicitly say that he was specifically targeted,” Bailey said.
Asked about the solving rate for homicides this year and in 2023, when the country recorded a record 55 homicides, 52 of which were classified as murder, Bailey said he did not have that information at hand.
“I am almost sure that you will revisit the Central Police Station in the not-too-distant future seeking some more information after today,” Bailey said, hinting that the police may make a significant announcement soon.
“And that may be a good question to pose at your next visit,” he said.
St. Rose is the second student shot and killed in St. Vincent in just under a year.
On July 19, 2023, a 13-year-old boy was among the five people shot and killed in Kingstown in the worst mass killing in the nation’s history.
The student is said to have been watching some men — said to be the target of attack — play a card game at the roadside when he was also shot and killed.