‘Police searching for suspects in Jabal Jofeh shooting deaths’

AMMAN — Police on Saturday said they were searching for suspects in connection with the shooting death of two people in an Amman suburb over the weekend.

Five other people were injured in the incident and were listed in good condition, a police official said.

The incident occurred late Thursday night when a fight erupted between two groups of people in the Jabal Jofeh suburb in Amman, the police official told The Jordan Times.

“The authorities are still searching for suspects and are questioning people in the neighbourhood,” a senior judicial source said.

The motive behind the shooting remains unclear according to the official.

However, local news websites and some Arabic daily newspapers reported over the weekend that the fight was over the use of firecrackers by children in the neighbourhood.

The police official stressed that the neighbourhood is witnessing a heavy security presence “to prevent any further escalation” of the situation.

The deceased men were aged 23 and 34, according to the official.

Children in several Amman neighbourhoods have taken to setting off firecrackers straight after iftar in Ramadan, and usually continue until it is time for suhoor, the pre-dawn meal consumed early in the morning before the day-long fast begins.

The government banned the import of fireworks in 2009, but every year customs agents foil several attempts to smuggle hundreds of cartons of fireworks as importers try to hide the explosives in containers carrying other products.

The Jordan Institution for Standards and Metrology conducts regular inspection campaigns on shops across the country and issues tickets to traders found selling fireworks and firecrackers.

The penalty for selling fireworks is four months in prison and a fine up to JD5,000.