Minister of Education and Youth Fayval Williams is condemning attacks on students after an eighth-grade student from the Anchovy High School was fatally shot on Friday.

Randeno James, a 14-year-old boy from Marl Road, Mount Pelier in St James, was shot and killed by gunmen who opened gunfire at a bar where he was seeking shelter. Reports are that the student was playing football when heavy rains forced him to take shelter at the bar.

“I join with the State Minister and Member of Parliament Homer Davis in condemning this senseless and vicious attack on a young and promising Jamaican boy,” said Williams at a post-Cabinet press briefing on Wednesday.

She said that grief counsellors have been sent to Anchovy High School, as well as the neighbouring Anchovy Primary and Cambridge High schools, to provide support to grieving students, teachers, and relatives.

“We mourn with the family and the school community and again strongly condemn the killing of students who, as we all know, are the future of Jamaica,” the minister added.

During the incident, the bartender and a female were shot and injured. Williams wished them a speedy recovery.

Investigations are ongoing to identify and prosecute the two male suspects who fled the scene in a waiting motor vehicle.