Dwight Nelson, Gleaner Writer

As murders and shootings in Clarendon increase, the police there have widened the scope of their operation with help from the Mobile Reserve.

The police are now focussing their operations on several hot spots in the parish. In a pre-dawn swoop on Sunday, a firearm was recovered and several men from the Canaan Heights community detained.

The men have since been released.

Since last Thursday, tension has gripped the community of Effortville, at a section called Buzz Rock, which is just two miles from the capital May Pen.

Two persons, including a 14-year-old student, were killed and five others hospitalised. Three of those in hospital are children. Their mother joins is one of the injured.

The first flare-up occurred Thursday night at 8:30 when 44-year-old Michael Thomas, otherwise called Malcolm, a reputed area leader, was killed outside his house by unknown assailants.

A 43-year-old mother and her four children - aged six, 10, 11 and 14 - were shot on Saturday at 12:05 in reprisal for Thomas' death.

Police reports confirmed that men, impersonating police, kicked open the door of the dwelling where the mother and her four children lived, in search of a family member whom they believe is linked to Thomas' death.