The police have launched an investigation into the murder of Marlon Bloomfield in the vicinity of Old Harbour High School in St. Catherine, which caused a delay in the sitting of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams at the institution.
Bloomfield was a vendor and had been selling in the vicinity of the school for several years. According to reports, the vendor was attacked by armed assailants who shot and killed him at about 6 a.m. on Thursday.
Dr. Kurt Waul, Councillor for the Old Harbour South Division, condemned Bloomfield’s murder and questioned the motives behind the attack.
“I condemn this killing wholeheartedly. You know, for some time now we have been having some peace and quiet in the Old Harbour space. The police have been doing a great job cracking down on gang-related activities, and they have been keeping a tab on the violence producers, so this killing has certainly blindsided us, and one has to wonder if there was some ulterior motive to this killing other than, you know, the gang-related violence that usually occurs in the Old Harbour space,” Dr. Waul said.
Linton Weir, the principal of Old Harbour, shared that counselling will be provided for students who knew Bloomfield. According to Weir, at the time the incident occurred, most of the students had not yet arrived at school, so it is not believed that many students witnessed the shooting.
However, as the crime scene was cordoned off by the police, CSEC and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) exams were delayed to 7:30 a.m. Principal Weir shared that all students were able to sit their exams.
