Prime Minister Andrew Holness toured sections of Olympic Gardens, St Andrew today (September 7) following a killing spree which claimed the lives of six people and left several nursing injuries.

“These are communities that have been affected in the last three days by gruesome murders six persons were killed in what is considered to be a gang related incident,” the prime minister said during his tour of the affected communities.

Reports are that feuding among gangs within the communities is the main cause of the violent flare up within the communities.

“It would appear that young men from the community involved in gang activities ended up in conflict and it has resulted in the loss of six lives. We also believe that in addition to the gang conflict there might be retaliation where innocent persons are involved,” Holness noted.

The communities which fall under the constituency of the prime minister experienced a spate of shootings which took place over a 24-hour period.

“We cannot allow such heinous crimes to be committed and the perpetrator face no consequence. This is my constituency I love the people here they are like my family and wherever crime happens here or wherever in Jamaica I literally take it very personally. So we are going to be ensuring that the perpetrators are brought to justice,” Holness shared.

Members of the communities are concerned for their safety in light of the recent acts of violence.

Holness said that: “We are reassuring the residence; we are giving them the assurance that we will put in place all the necessary security provisions to ensure their safety. There are some other measures which we will put in place as well including cameras. We have a project in place unfortunately it is stuck in procurement and has not yet come to fruition, but I am going to try and fast track that because as you can see these areas are properly laid out with proper roads and infrastructure and so cameras will be very useful.”

He also mentioned that the residents while they are very much afraid they are not in support of what is happening.

“The community is against this. I am expecting that we should get valuable and useful information to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

The police are currently investigating the circumstance which lead to the killings.

“The police have assured me that they are investigating and that they leave no stone unturned,” Holness added.

A curfew has since been imposed in Olympic Gardens. The curfew came into effect 8 p.m. September 6 and will continue until 8 p.m. tomorrow (September 8). During the hours of the curfew, all persons are required to remain within their premises unless otherwise authorised in writing by the ground command.