Jamaica's homeless fearful after four hacked to death, killer on loose

More worrying still to the local homeless population, this is not the first time this has occurred and could be the work of a serial killer. Several years ago, homeless men were the victims of a pattern of similar attacks, killed while they were sleeping, said Dennis Brooks, a spokesman for the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

Jamaican police said on Tuesday they were launching a major investigation into an attack over the weekend on six homeless men in Kingston in which four were hacked to death and two critically injured.

While Jamaica has one of the highest homicide rates in the world, the attack was particularly grisly. All suffered chop wounds to the head and the two who survived were in a critical state, police said. More worrying still to the local homeless population, this is not the first time this has occurred and could be the work of a serial killer.

Several years ago, homeless men were the victims of a pattern of similar attacks, killed while they were sleeping, said Dennis Brooks, a spokesman for the Jamaica Constabulary Force. "We don't have a person of interest or a suspect, but we have leads," he said, adding the police were stepping up patrols.

Minister of Local Government Desmond McKenzie said the incident was a reminder to "to ensure that the vulnerable among us are never seen or treated as expendable", urging the homeless population to stay in shelters. Some though were defiant, preferring the relative freedom of the streets over the constraints of shelters.

Lying on some cardboard on a city sidewalk, flanked by two shopping bags full of possessions, Zenas Gayle, 55, said he wouldn't consider going to a shelter although there was always a level of fear from living on the streets of Kingston. "But if anybody goes for me (attacks me), I will go back," he said.

Over 1,300 people were murdered last year in Jamaica, with gang violence to blame for much of the violence, and several communities remain under a state of emergency, under constant watch by security forces.

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