Now, that murder happened on Friday night - and became the third murder in the Martin's area in four nights: Devin Amoa on last Monday night, Lynroy Longsworth on Wednesday, and then on Friday, Erwin Castillo.
Police were supposed to have blanketed the area with operations and mediations by mid week, but, still the killing continued on Friday night.
It's a hot zone, and a real headache for a short staffed police department - its ranks depleted by COVID 19.
Today, he commissioner said, it's been a tense time:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"It has been extremely tense. Over the weekend, myself, Brother Nuri, and Ms. Westby we spent our time in the Saint Martin's area working with the different factions with a view to quell the ongoing situation there. We had some peace over the weekend, I must say. And we are going to continue doing what we are doing with a view to see how we can continue to keep the peace in that area. We know that there are extremely strong tensions between the different groups and it will require a lot of work for us to bring things back to normalcy. But we are not going to give up. We are going to continue to do what we can because at the end of the day when these young men are killed there are always a number of persons left behind grieving that do love them and so I personally, I am sure I can speak on behalf of brother Nuri and Ms. Westby - we are tired of seeing mothers crying on TV, we are tired of seeing siblings crying, we are tired of seeing girlfriend or wives crying on TV for having loss their love one, so whatever it is that we can do to save these youths from themselves we are going to do."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Is this another change of tack for you, in terms of famously you were doing such awesome work at Easter Division as a mediator and then you became ComPol and then you took a harder line - you called them animals. You said if you act like animals, we will have to treat you like that. But now I'm seeing that the mediator is coming back. Blessed are the peacemakers, sir."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Jules, do you have a dog? A dog is an animal, right. Does a dog always act out and dont we have animals that behave very good? So to say that someone act like animal does not mean that are acting bad. Sometimes animal act better than some of us. So to say someone act like animal could be a compliment. It's how you want to take it."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"You didn't say it was a compliment."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I didn't say it was not either. This can be a part of a process to bring people together. We must be a part of that process. When it is that we are to pull the whip and be stern, we must be stern, because there are some people that no level of talking is going to change them. So, I still have that firm belief of tough policing and I have that firm belief of soft policing. We have to find a way to strike a balance and when to apply either of them."
Police mediation efforts continue.
