16.05.2006 - fonte: THE JAMAICA GLEANER

THUGS KILL 12-Y-O BOY IN CROSSFIRE

Bartholomew Chan, Gleaner Writer

WHEN 12-YEAR-OLD Jerome Frankson went on an errand to the neighbourhood shop at James Street, central Kingston, on Sunday morning, he was brimming with expectation of a trip into the countryside.

But the 10-minute journey ended in tragedy as the Calabar Primary and Junior High School student was shot and killed by a group of gunmen who had invaded the community. The police said two other males, aged 23 and 26, were also shot and injured during the attack, but young Jerome was pronounced dead at the nearby Kingston Public Hospital.

WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME

According to his mother, 50-year-old Marva Ellis, Jerome and his companions were in the process of leaving on a trip to Cane River in St. Thomas when the gunmen came with guns blazing. "Marlon Stephens, of a Smith Lane address, has since been arrested and charged with the murder. He is booked to appear in court on May 19," Woman Corporal Claudette Baugh of the Constabulary Communication Network told The Gleaner yesterday.

A senior police officer at the Central Police Station, down-town Kingston, theorised that the gunmen had gone to kill a man who was recently released from police custody when Jerome walked into the crossfire.

According to police records, at least 13 children have been murdered since January.