Jamaican Police Investigating Death of Student Whose Body Was Recovered From the Sea

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Police are investigating whether or not a shark is responsible for the death of a student of the William Knibb Memorial High School, whose headless body was discovered on Tuesday, a day after he went missing during a spearfishing expedition.

bshackA crowd gathers on the beach after the headless body of student found. He is believed to have been killed by a shark (Jamaica Observer newspaper photo)The Jamaica Observer newspaper reported that the badly mutilated body of 16-year-old Jahmari Reid had been retrieved by divers and that  Scores of people converged on the Falmouth Fishing Beach, on the island’s north coast, to view the remains. The left arm was severed from the body.

The student’s father, Michael Reid, said his son had gone to the sea by himself on Monday and that he had tried unsuccessfully to discourage him from his spearfishing hobby.

“It is something that we argue about, we fight about. He’s not doing it for a worthy cause, he’s not doing it for needs or anything. It is what it is still. Can you believe it?” he told the newspaper.

One of the fishermen, Christopher Reynolds, said he was informed that a massive tiger shark was spotted in the water by the divers who had located the body, shortly after they recovered the detached arm.

“All of the fisherman went out there and, while they were diving to take him up, they saw the big shark. They shot at him but they didn’t get him,” Reynolds said, insisting that the killer shark must be located and killed and the severed head recovered.

President of Falmouth Fisherfolks Benevolent Society, Fritz Christie, said this was the first time in recent history that a shark has been said to have killed anyone in the Trelawny waters and that it is believed that the shark followed a cruise vessel into the Falmouth waters.

“It look like when one of the ship come in a big shark follow the ship come in and it look like when the ship leave the shark did not leave the area. And the youth go out and he was attacked by the shark. It bit off his head,” Christie said, advising spearfishers to exercise extreme caution after a cruise ship comes into the Falmouth port.

“What we have to do is make certain when the ships come to be careful of the diving. The shark eat off the man head, eat off one of his hand. It’s crazy, man,” Christie said.