Police are investigating the double shooting of a man and his daughter on Sunday afternoon. While the father survived the attack, his 4-year-old child died from her injuries.
Preliminary reports on the incident say the shooting occurred in Land Settlement in the vicinity of Royal Flat, located in Manchester. The man and the child were seated in a black Toyota Voxy when they were ambushed at about 4:20 p.m.
Police say he fired multiple shots at the vehicle before fleeing the scene. The father and daughter were found with gunshot wounds and transported to the Mandeville Regional Hospital. The child, later identified by the family as Sanoya O’Brien, was pronounced dead on arrival. The father was hospitalised, and he has been receiving treatment for his injuries.
Police have been trying to piece together the circumstances surrounding the incident. Investigators were still present at the scene up to 8:00 p.m. last night.
Up to 8:00 pm on Sunday, police were still processing both the shooting scene and the Toyota Voxy. Since the start of the year, Manchester has recorded four murders, four more than were reported during the same period in 2025.
The death of the little girl also adds to the second fatal shooting involving a 4-year-old since the year began. On January 1, a 4-year-old boy named Romaine Bowman was shot dead during an alleged shootout between security forces and gunmen in Granville, St James. The New Year’s Day incident sparked outrage aimed at the Jamaica Constabulary Force after the boy’s mother and his neighbours blamed the security forces for killing the child.
However, the JCF released a statement explaining that the death of Romaine is being investigated as a homicide and not as a victim of a fatal police shooting. They are working to identify whether the fatal shot that the child sustained in his back came from the gunman’s weapon.
