Three knives and a machete were seized from four schoolboys who were involved in an altercation, with the boys now facing charges after police discovered the weapons during a search while responding to reports of a fight at a high school in the Corporate Area.
According to police accounts, the incident took place on Tuesday, April 21, along Gordon Town Road in St Andrew. Lawmen were summoned to the school after a group of students began fighting following a dispute. The cause of the altercation is unclear, but it quickly led to violent retaliation. Responding officers had to intervene to bring the situation under control. Afterwards, they conducted searches on the students involved and discovered the weapons.
The four boys, aged between 14 and 16, were taken into custody at the scene. Police interviewed the boys in the presence of their parents, and a charge of being armed with an offensive weapon was later laid against them.
These offences fall under the Offensive Weapons (Prohibition) Act.
The legislation under which the students were charged prohibits the possession of a wide range of weapons, such as knives, butterfly knives, daggers, flick knives, and sword sticks, in public spaces.
A court date has been scheduled on May 19 for the students to appear before the Kingston and St Andrew Family Court.
The incident comes amid a series of violent episodes involving students across the island. Just this week, a student was fatally stabbed near the Morant Bay Transport Centre in St Thomas, in a case that has left communities in shock. Police reported that a knife was used in that attack, and three students have since been taken into custody.
Recent developments at Jamaica College have also drawn public attention after a video circulated online showing a student being physically assaulted by his peers.