Churches mourn seven Jamaican slaying victims

The recent slayings of seven people — ages 3 to 40 — with ties to churches of Christ in Jamaica has church members across the country mourning and Jamaica’s prime minister denouncing the tide of violence sweeping the island nation. Mourners packed the Morant Bay Church of Christ for the funeral of six members of a church family — Patrice George McCool, 28; her children Sean Chin, 9; Jihad George McCool, 6; and Lloyd McCool, 3; her aunt Terry-Ann Mohommed, 40; and another family member, Jesse O’Gilvie, 9. Their bodies were in three locations, some with slashed throats and one stuffed in a barrel.
Police chargedMichael Alexander, 38, with the killings, according to Radio Jamaica.

“There were literallythousands of people in attendance,” said Dave Culbreath, who was in Morant Baywith a mission team from Lipscomb University, Nashville, Tenn.
Minister MichaelDehaney conducted the funeral, which included a speech from Prime MinisterPortia Simpson Miller, who called for a time of prayer and fasting as Jamaicastruggles to cut its high crime rate.
Days after thefuneral, the Mona Church of Christ in St. Andrew laid to rest 15-year-oldJordano Flemmings, who was fatally stabbed in a robbery while walking home fromchurch.
“He was trained to bestrong … and defend what he believed in,” Everton Flemmings Jr., the boy’sfather, told the Jamaica Observer.
Gladwyn Kiddoe,minister and director of the Jamaica School of Preaching and Biblical Studiesin Kingston, attended both funerals and preached at the service for JordanoFlemmings, attended by more than 1,000.

“Thedevil never sleeps, anywhere in the world,” Kiddoe said.