Park Lane on edge after 50-y-o woman gunned down

Jamaica Gleaner | 2025-12-02 | Original Article

Fifty-year-old Janet Baker was shot and killed in a drive-by attack on Park Lane, off Red Hills Road in St Andrew, late Sunday, sending fresh shock waves through a community long battle-scarred by gang conflicts and recurring violence.

 

“The place tense. Tense bad,” one resident, who did not want to be identified, admitted on Monday.

 

According to police reports, the incident happened some time after 9 p.m. during a bingo “round-robin” event that had drawn several residents out of their homes, to have a good time.

 

The joy was shortlived after a car pulled up and its occupants opened fire, hitting Baker, the presumed target.

 

Investigators say the car sped away and the wounded woman was assisted to hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

 

Detectives from the St Andrew North Police Division spent hours late Sunday combing the space for anything of evidential value.

 

The murder has once again placed the spotlight on Park Lane and surrounding communities such as 100 Lane and sections of Red Hills Road, areas long troubled by tit-for-tat shootings and shifting gang activity.

 

Residents say the violence has become a heavy burden on daily life, leaving businesses struggling and neighbours living in fear.

 

“December just start. Hurricane just passed and people still a pick up ... . Every year dem time ya, Park Lane have murder or shooting. The business dem on the main a go feel di pinch. The shop dem in a the community also,” a resident told The Gleaner.

 

Several vendors along Red Hills Road echoed similar concerns, noting that customer traffic has declined significantly over the past year, especially at night.

 

“Memba here so is the jerk chicken central of the Corporate Area, seven days a week. We can’t afford fi lose the little customers dem or a sell and a fi a look over our shoulders,” a vendor, who also requested anonymity, told The Gleaner.

 

Many blame the ongoing violence for cutting into their earnings and pushing some businesses to shutter entirely.

 

The area once had Sugar and Spice, that was rumoured to have closed because of extortion.

 

Another establishment, Birdshack, opened at the location but closed its door in less than a year.

 

They did not state the reason for closure, but residents believe the crime in the area is stifling business growth.

 

“Red Hills Road is not the same. A true me can’t do better why me affi stay here. Yellow tape just a draw so ‘bout the place. Police a kill man, man a kill man, man a kill woman. It just non-stop,” a resident commented.

 

The police have acknowledged the challenges facing the division, describing the cluster of small lanes branching off Red Hills Road as sensitive zones that require constant attention due to entrenched conflicts and sudden flare-ups.

 

The security forces have maintained a presence in the area, but residents say more long-term intervention is needed.

 

Sunday night’s killing, they fear, may trigger another cycle of retaliation.

 

Investigators are urging anyone with information about the deadly attack to contact the Constant Spring Police Criminal Investigation Branch.

 

Meanwhile, the St Andrew North Police Division is seeing a 56 per cent reduction in murders as at November 29.

 

As at midnight Saturday, the division counted 32 murders, compared to 59 for the similar period in 2024.

 

Shootings, rape and cases of injury are also on the decline.

 

Robberies and break-ins, however, have increased by 20 and 46 per cent, respectively.

 

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com

 

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