Long gone are they days when only men could be implicated in acts of violence and reports of major crimes.

Last Friday's edition of THE WEEKEND STAR spoke of four girls who are said to have residents of a Westmoreland community living in fear.

The girls, the police say, are collectively known as the 'Shoot Dem' gang and are alleged to be linked to at least eight cases of robbery, three shootings, one stabbing and a number of assaults, all said to have occurred in the past three weeks.

This is yet another reminder of how dangerous the streets of our nation can be. The idea of female gang members being so violent is chilling.

still teenagers

What makes the story even more disturbing is that the girls are still teenagers.

With that said, one cannot help but to ask: Is it that all hope is lost?

Being teenagers, they have their whole life ahead of them but have chosen to doom themselves by getting involved in crime.

The story further went on to note that the girls are also chasing persons from the community who they accuse of being informers.

In one case, an 18-year-old girl was attacked and stabbed after she was accused of being involved with a policeman.

These girls should be dealt with to the full extent of the law for the crimes they have committed.