“We Are Here with You” – Minister Morris Dixon Assures Rosemount Primary and Infant School Community
By: , October 8, 2025
Photo: Michael Sloley
Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, looks at toys and cards placed on the desk of late Rosemount Primary and Infant School student, Shannon Gordon, during a visit to the school in St. Catherine on Tuesday (October 7). The four-year-old was one of five people killed in a mass shooting incident in Commodore in Linstead on Sunday night (October 5). In the background are Principal of the school, Malaika Sinclair Bailey, and Shannon's classmates.
Photo: Michael Sloley
Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon (right), listens to Principal of the Rosemount Primary and Infant School in St. Catherine, Malaika Sinclair Bailey, during a visit to the school in St. Catherine on Tuesday (October 7), in the aftermath of the killing of four-year-old student, Shannon Gordon.The Full Story
The Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information will continue to provide grief counselling and other support to students and teachers at the Rosemount Primary and Infant School.
Portfolio Minister, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, gave the commitment during a visit to the St. Catherine-based institution on Tuesday (Oct. 7), along with Ministry personnel.
The visit was to offer condolences and support following Sunday night’s (October 5) killing of four-year-old Shannon Gordon, who was a student at the institution.
Shannon was one of five people killed in a mass shooting incident in Commodore in Linstead.
Minister Morris Dixon assured the school community that the support will be long-term.
“All of Jamaica is grieving with you. We feel it. A four-year-old, a beautiful life taken away, way, way too early, and senselessly too. You are not alone in this. We are with you,” she said.
“We, in the Ministry of Education, we are here to support in whatever way you need. We have been giving the support and we will continue to give support because I know a lot of the children, they are not necessarily going to show how traumatised they are right away. It will come in the weeks; it will come in the months ahead,” she pointed out.
Principal of the school, Malaika Sinclair Bailey, expressed gratitude for the outpouring of assistance from the Victim Support Unit and the Restorative Justice team under the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, the Early Child Commission, the Linstead ministerial fraternity, and the police.
“We had a contingent of police officers and we are eternally grateful for the support,” she said.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Marcia Blake, who leads the St. Catherine North Zone 2, vowed that the police will not rest until those responsible are brought to justice.
She said that in addition to the curfew that has been imposed in the Commodore area, “we also have a softer lockdown in surrounding communities, because the criminals have their friends and associates elsewhere”.
She noted that police personnel have been engaging with the students to reassure them and to help them feel safe.
“We are [working with the other agencies] to bring back the love, bring back the trust within these students and family members of those injured and those that are now deceased,” she said.
Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, visited the Commodore community on Monday (October 6), where he met with relatives of the victims of the gun attack and expressed his deep sympathies and support.
He condemned the killings as an “act of criminal terror designed to elicit the highest level of fear within the community”.
Dr. Holness appealed to persons with information that could assist in advancing the investigation to come forward, noting that a $2-million reward is being offered.