The recent slayings of seven people — ages 3 to 40 — with ties to churches of Christ in Jamaica has church members across the country mourning and Jamaica's prime minister denouncing the tide of violence sweeping the island nation. Mourners packed the Morant Bay Church of Christ for the funeral of six members of a church family — Patrice George McCool, 28; her children Sean Chin, 9; Jihad George McCool, 6; and Lloyd McCool, 3; her aunt Terry-Ann Mohommed, 40; and another family member, Jesse O'Gilvie, 9. Their bodies were in three locations, some with slashed throats and one stuffed in a barrel. Police charged Michael Alexander, 38, with the killings, according to Radio Jamaica.

“There were literally thousands of people in attendance,” said Dave Culbreath, who was in Morant Bay with a mission team from Lipscomb University, Nashville, Tenn.

Minister Michael Dehaney conducted the funeral, which included a speech from Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who called for a time of prayer and fasting as Jamaica struggles to cut its high crime rate.

Days after the funeral, the Mona Church of Christ in St. Andrew laid to rest 15-year-old Jordano Flemmings, who was fatally stabbed in a robbery while walking home from church.

“He was trained to be strong ... and defend what he believed in,” Everton Flemmings Jr., the boy’s father, told the Jamaica Observer.

Gladwyn Kiddoe, minister and director of the Jamaica School of Preaching and Biblical Studies in Kingston, attended both funerals and preached at the service for Jordano Flemmings, attended by more than 1,000.

“The devil never sleeps, anywhere in the world,” Kiddoe said.