KINGSTON (AP) — Jamaican police have arrested at least six suspects in connection with a mass shooting in which eight people were recently killed in the island’s southern region.
The most recent suspect was arrested late Thursday, police said in a statement.
Seven of the victims were killed in one shooting and an eighth one was killed in a related shooting shortly afterward, authorities said. Among the victims was a 7-year-old boy.
Eleven other people were injured in the first shooting Sunday at a birthday party in the parish of Clarendon, located west of the capital of Kingston. Among those injured was a baby.
Deputy Police Commissioner Fitz Bailey has said the shootings were a result of long-standing feuds among former friends who had a falling out in the U.S. “over illegally obtained gains, leading to each taking homicidal contracts to incite fear and terror.”
The shootings prompted Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness to declare a state of emergency as he warned about possible reprisal killings.
Last year, Jamaica was ranked the second-deadliest country in the Caribbean and Latin America, with nearly 61 killings per 100,000 people, according to Insight Crime.