Jahmari Reid, 16, disappeared Monday while spearfishing in northwestern Jamaica. “He didn’t come home at the usual time, which worried us,” Robert Robinson, the teenager’s uncle, told the Jamaica Star. According to the Jamaica Observer, Jahmari left alone in the early hours of the morning. The next day, divers discovered human remains in the water. It was a “severely mutilated” body, with the head and left arm torn off, suggesting a shark attack.
Fishermen helped bring the body to shore. One said a large tiger shark was lurking nearby. It was fired upon but not hit. Authorities have not yet confirmed the cause of the teenager’s death. On Wednesday, the Trelawny Parish police chief confirmed the discovery of a “mutilated” body. “What we cannot confirm is the cause of the mutilation. We are awaiting the results of the autopsy,” Winston Milton said. “At this point, we are not in a position to say whether it was a shark attack,” he added.
“I can’t believe he went out to sea by himself and it ended this way. I feel so bad,” said Michael Reid, the victim’s father. The man had often tried to dissuade his son from taking up spearfishing, the teenager’s hobby. “We argued about it all the time. He wasn’t doing it for a good reason, he wasn’t doing it out of need or anything,” the grieving father laments. Since 1749, only three unprovoked shark attacks have been recorded in Jamaica, according to the International Shark Attack File.
