Manchester killings, Portmore police shooting and FSC finances lead Jamaica news update

Police in Manchester are investigating the early Friday killing of a father and son whose bodies were found inside a house in New Forest. The men, whose given names had not been confirmed up to news time, were discovered about 12:15 a.m. after residents reported hearing explosions. Officers said both appeared to have been shot and were pronounced dead at the scene. The son was said to be an aspiring recording artiste known as Sefeedo.

The double killing comes as the Manchester Police Division faces a rise in murders. Up to May 31, police statistics showed 14 murder investigations in the division, compared with eight for the similar period last year, a 75 per cent increase.

In St. Catherine, the Independent Commission of Investigations has opened a probe into the fatal police shooting of a man in Portmore on Thursday night. Police reported that members of the St. Catherine South Quick Response Unit were patrolling Gilbert Avenue in Dunbeholden about 8:45 p.m. when they saw a man allegedly carrying a firearm in his waistband. Officers later encountered two men at a premises. Police said one man fired at them, ran inside the house, and was later shot during a second exchange in the kitchen. A Beretta pistol with a magazine containing eight rounds was reportedly recovered. He was taken to Spanish Town Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Another man reportedly escaped.

Manchester police also identified Robert Dawes, 60, of Georgia Reid District in Mandeville, as the man who died after steel being delivered by a truck fell on him in Belvin Heights on Thursday. He was reportedly sitting under a tree about 10:30 a.m. when the material struck him. He died at hospital.

Also in Mandeville, six vendors were charged under the Towns and Communities Act and five others warned during a Thursday operation along Winston Jones Highway. Police said vending near the Williamsfield and New Green roundabouts was disrupting traffic, and urged vendors to use the Mandeville Market and observe health and safety rules.

The Financial Services Commission also came under scrutiny at Thursday’s sitting of the Senate Regulations Committee. Executive director Lieutenant Colonel Caron Burrell said the FSC transferred $500 million from its reserves to government on the instruction of the Ministry of Finance and the financial secretary. He said the transfer, higher staff costs, and spending after a 2023 cyberattack helped weaken the regulator’s finances. Head of administration Dana Fuller Barrett said the payment reduced reserves that could have helped the commission absorb losses, as the FSC seeks parliamentary approval for revised insurance fees.