Police say Jamaica defender Orane Simpson killed in Kingston slum; no arrests made

Jamaican police: National team player killed

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica defender Orane Simpson was fatally stabbed in the violence-wracked Kingston slum where he was raised, police said Wednesday.

A brief police statement said the 26-year-old player, a Jamaica international since 2005, was killed in Tivoli Gardens, a sprawling neighborhood that was the country’s first government housing project.

Simpson was attacked late Tuesday. There have been no arrests, and police did not disclose specifics of the stabbing.

Howard Bell, an administrator with the Jamaican Football Federation, said the right back had recently been sidelined with an injury. He did not provide more details.

Team officials did not immediately return calls Wednesday.

Simpson also played with the Tivoli Gardens team in the Caribbean island’s National Premier League. He was first called up to the Reggae Boyz in 2005 for a match against Australia.

Drug and extortion gangs are blamed for 90 percent of the homicides in Jamaica — 1,611 last year, about 10 times the rate in the United States, relative to population.