KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Independent Commission of Inquiry (INDECOM) has highlighted that almost a third of those killed or shot and injured by Jamaican security forces in alleged clashes over the past decade did not appear to be armed.

“It was a pattern last year and it has been a pattern for more than a decade where nearly a third of all people who were shot, killed or injured did not appear to have one, or certainly no weapon of any kind was recovered from them,” said INDECOM Deputy Commissioner Hamish Campbell.

Campbell was speaking at an INDECOM press conference on Friday where he announced that 149 people had been killed by security forces through October 31 and another 66 people had been shot and injured.

He described a weapon as a gun, rock, scissors, stick or any other instrument.

With two months to go before the end of the year, Campbell said it would appear that fewer people who did not own a gun were shot or killed by security forces in 2024.

Commenting on the number of people killed so far this year, Campbell said “current projections show that unless trends are reversed by security forces in Jamaica, 2024 will see the highest level of fatal incidents linked to the security forces since 2013.”

He noted that 253 people were killed in 2013, while in 2019 the lowest number was 86. “Between 2019 and today, there has been an 80% increase in fatal shootings,” he noted. declared the deputy commissioner. This represents an increase each year from 115 in 2020; 127 in 2021; 134 in 2022 and 155 in 2023.

Regarding multiple fatal incidents, Campbell said 20 people died in 2023, while 30 people were killed in such incidents this year. There were two such incidents in which four people were killed and two incidents which each claimed the lives of three people. Campbell said that was in addition to several fatal double shootings during the year.