St. James church leaders warn crime gains at risk after parish shootings

Church leaders in St. James are warning that hard-won reductions in violent crime during 2025 could be reversed, and are calling on stakeholders across the parish to intensify efforts before recent gains are lost.

Reverend Glendon Powell cited a shooting weeks ago at the New Testament Church of God in Montego Bay, where a gunman killed a woman on the church grounds while worship was in progress. He said the attack reflected a wider moral collapse.

"Where there is a lack of fear for God," Powell said. He tied the trend to falling church attendance among young people: "This is happening because a number of our parents now today does not send their children or bring their children to church. So, there is a generation now that is growing up who does not know the God that you and I talk about."

Addressing reporters at a press briefing on Wednesday, Powell said curbing crime is not the government's task alone. Through the St. James Ministers Fraternal, he said clergy are prepared to do more in affected communities and want every congregation in the parish to join the group so churches can plan and act together.

Among the initiatives under discussion is a motorcade that would move through troubled neighbourhoods. Powell said participating churches would proclaim faith as the answer to the parish's problems, declaring "the name of the Lord Jesus Christ" and that "Jesus Christ is the answer for the problem that we have."

The fraternal is also seeking to ease tensions between police and residents in Granville, where a woman was fatally shot by officers in a controversial incident; a policeman has since been charged with murder. Powell said peace-building work through the Peace Management Initiative had been making headway in local communities until that shooting. Ministers later counselled the bereaved family and continue outreach in volatile areas including Salt Spring, Flankers, Norwood, Glendevon, and Canterbury.

Both the St. James Ministers Association and the PMI remain active in those communities, Powell said, as clergy press for broader collaboration to push back against violent crime.