Prime Minister Holness Visits Grieving Families in Commodore, Linstead, St. Catherine
Statement
By
Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP
Prime Minister of Jamaica
During his visit to the grieving families in Commodore, Linstead
On
October 6, 2025
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I’m here to personally express to the family members my own personal and sincere and deep condolences on this very tragic incident, which has taken the lives of four innocent Jamaicans and has threatened the lives of members of the community, and I am hoping for the speedy recovery of those who were injured in this gruesome unwarranted attack.
I’m also here to assure the families and loved ones of the victims that the Jamaican state and government will support them through this very difficult time, whether it is with support in counselling or in supporting any other needs that may arise. As I have met with some of the family members, I’m seeing where there are needs and some have even expressed particular support that they would require so the entire government will be mobilized to give support to the victims and the loved ones of the victims.
Now, I’m also here to highlight a few other important facts that should give context to the Jamaican discourse on our law enforcement strategy. We have been very successful in reducing murders. We have reduced murders consistently over the past three years, and that has to be balanced against the need to reassure the public that the security forces are operating in such a way as to preserve life, to exemplify the highest respect for human rights and dignity, and to ensure that how they operate is to target specifically those who are committing the crimes and those who are supporting them as well as to undermine the ecosystem that protects them and that the innocent does not become a victim of our effort.
It is a delicate balance sometimes, but I am confident that the security forces understand the mission. I’m confident that they have taken the necessary steps in terms of training, in terms of intelligence, in terms of investigation, and the government has given the support in terms of equipment, legislation, and policy direction to ensure that the mission, which is not just to reduce crime in particular murders, but to create a peaceful Jamaica; that is the mission.
But I’m also here to point out that the mission, though we are making progress, is not complete and the conversation cannot proceed as if they are not dangerous and evil persons still in our midst with the capabilities to unleash on an innocent population, the greatest terror and to deprive innocent Jamaicans of their lives. Criminals, evil men, gangsters are still in the midst of our society, and the only thing that protects us from them is our security forces that defend the law, and I say that very importantly. It is in the defence of the law that our security forces have the credibility in the minds of the public to pursue the strategy.
This incident in which arbitrary attack was unleashed on innocent citizens by all account, a 4-year-old, 11-year-old, a 19-year-old female, a mother of three children; the conversation in the public domain as well about our crime fighting strategy, sometimes forget the victims, and so my presence here as well is the highlight that we must also focus on the victims: the three children who are left behind by the murder of an innocent mother, the father who was just crying a while ago that his son didn’t get to give him a grandson, the grandmother who was crying in a room who was saying her grandson was the one who took care of her. The society must place great importance on the victims of crime in as much as sometimes we pay to the perpetrators of crime. The victims of crime deserve justice for Jamaicans and the society in how we speak, the narratives that we create around our situation, I think it is only fair that in the balance, the favour is towards the victims.
My presence here today is to also highlight the victims, but the nature of the crime is one that should also be highlighted. This crime amounts to what I would describe as an act of criminal terror. It’s an act of terror but take it out of the context of political terrorism. This is criminal terrorism. This is designed to bring on the people of the community the highest level of fear. As the families would’ve pointed out to me, they don’t feel safe, they want to move, they feel that there could be other attacks coming. This is designed to undermine the effectiveness of the state because this area was not without policing. This area was a part of the policing strategy to keep crime down in the area. There was police presence here, there was intelligence, but these men felt that they were emboldened in a bare faced way to come into this area and show that they are not in fear of the law, and in fact, they could commit a crime with impunity and as if there will be no consequence for this crime being committed. I’m raising all these issues for the public as we discuss it, to have the issue placed in its proper context.
Now, this is from our perspective an act of criminal terror. The police must dedicate resources to this and focus on ensuring that the perpetrators are brought to justice. This is not a directive from me. It is not a directive from the Minister of National Security, though of course it is within our policy remit and framework, but I’ve heard the commissioner himself speak to say this is what the security forces will do, and I give my full support to the security forces to pursue this.
We have seen this before. Not so long ago we saw Cherry Tree Lane where I visited and from what I have been told and what I have seen- I don’t want to speak too much on the operational issues, that’s the remit of the police, but it would appear to me that the circumstances are similar and there are things that we would’ve learned from the Cherry Tree Lane incident, and one of them is to prevent reprisals. I’m certain that the police will be acting in such a way to ensure that there are no reprisals or to prevent them as much as possible and to be proactive in ensuring that there is a proper security presence and cordon in the area to protect the citizens here and to prevent any retaliation coming from outside or even from inside going out. The learnings have been adopted into the strategy, and I’m certain that the police will be very effective in what they do.
The second thing that we have learned is that whatever we do as a security response must have endurance. The criminals, sometimes they will go and hide and as the commissioner said, they have safe haven and people protect them and surround them and then they wait and then they come back. That would be a fatal error on their part because what we have built into the security forces is endurance so they will stay in the community, they will maintain a long-term presence, and they will not just wait out the criminals, they will actively seek the criminals.
The last thing I will say on this issue is that though we have invested heavily in the police, and I believe that our security apparatus today is far more sophisticated than it was 10 or 15 years ago, our security forces have far more capabilities, and I’m certain that they will eventually find the perpetrators, but that can be accelerated and the security forces capabilities can be easily multiplied with the cooperation of the citizens, not just the citizens of this formerly quiet and peaceful district of Commodore, but the citizens generally.
I’m certain that there is a Jamaican hearing my voice or in the hearing of my voice who would have information about what has happened and with the greatest discretion, you can pass that information to the police. I know that the Minister of National Security has incentivized this process. I gather you have announced a $2 million. I think you better say three, but you have announced that there is a reward for information that would prove useful in this case. Minister, maybe you want to upgrade it? There is a reward and we will evaluate it as we go along in terms of how much more we can put towards incentivizing the process of giving information but outside of that, it is a duty of every citizen to provide us with the information and I really sincerely urge those citizens, those members of the communities who know, please share the information with us. It is ultimately in your benefit.
I want every Jamaican to think of this. Even though we have had this terrible set of murders here in one incident, we are still 40% below where we were last year. We are still on a good track, and we can do even better if every Jamaican were to agree that the criminals must be dealt with, they must be brought to justice, we will not protect them, we will not speak on their behalf, we will have a singular focus on making Jamaica peaceful. The peace dividend is for everyone. Everyone benefits so I use this tragic incident to appeal to the heart of all Jamaicans, let us work for peace. And to those criminals who are not hearing my voice or have chosen to ignore what I have said, we will get you!