Four suspects held in schoolboys’ murders

Four suspects held in schoolboys’ murders

Published: Guardian
Sunday, January 24, 2016

A joint police and army net in the Picton, Laventille, area has led to the arrest of four men allegedly connected to Thursday’s shooting death of two teenagers in the area.

Hours after Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced that the army would be stationed indefinitely in the hot spot, the joint forces set up operations in the area, and between 5 am and 3 pm yesterday they were able to detain the four men. One senior police officer confirmed yesterday that the four men were held during that operation.

The two teens, Deneilson Smith, 17, and Mark Richards, 16, were pulled from a taxi and shot in a bold attack on Thursday evening. The boys were killed on Picton Road on their way home after attending classes at the Success Laventille Secondary School.

The shocking murders triggered Rowley to call out the army to help police officers patrol the area.

During the joint exercise, officers also recovered a firearm at the home of one of the suspects held for the murder of the teens.

Yesterday, a team of parliamentarians including Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon visited the homes of the murdered teens. Minister of Education Anthony Garcia, who is currently in Jamaica attending a meeting of the Finance and General Purposes Committee of The University of the West Indies, yesterday released a statement contradicting social media reports that the teens were involved in criminal activity.

Garcia, quoting the principal of the Success Laventille Secondary School, has advised that both Richards and Smith were regular students and were neither disruptive nor violent. Media reports already reported that Smith was a school prefect and served as captain of the school’s under-19 cricket team. He was described as “a respectable and punctual student, always willing to assist and very quiet.”

The principal described the teachers and auxiliary staff as “devastated” following the news of Smith’s murder. Richards was also described as a “quiet student who participated in football and was not known to be involved in any serious incidents of indiscipline at the school."

Garcia urged all citizens to continue to pray for the families, students, teachers and residents of the area who were affected by the killing of the youngsters.

Garcia and officials of the ministry plan to visit the school tomorrow at 9 am.