Assistant Commissioner of Police Luke Defreitas shared insights from recent crime analyses, pointing out that the last nine to ten murders have followed a noticeable pattern.

“Our analysis has shown that they’ve really occurred in or around the same areas. Males of about the same age group have been the ones involved, whether victims or suspects,” explained ACP Defreitas.

He added that the initial killings appeared to trigger a chain of retaliatory events, suggesting a level of interconnectedness among the incidents.

Defreitas emphasised, however, the importance of avoiding the stigmatisation of any one community.

“We do not want to stereotype areas. The circumstances you discuss, we see them all over — 6ix and 7even — all over, in the south, in the north of the island, within the central division. So the six and seven issue for law enforcement is not one restricted to any one particular area… but it is something that seems to be a common theme throughout the country.”

Although the island has seen a slowdown in reported murders, gun-related injuries remain a concern.

“While there may have been a lull in the murders, the gun incidents continued,” Defreitas noted. “Several persons would have been injured by way of incidents involving guns and gunfire… among the same categories of people.”

Police have ramped up their interventions, including intelligence-led operations in hotspot communities, in an effort to prevent further escalation. According to Defreitas, the recent period of calm may be the result of these deliberate efforts to disrupt cycles of violence.