Arriving in Kingston

Any book you read warns you about the high murder rate in Kingston. Most books also clarify that this only applies to some western suburbs and is typically drug, gang or politics related, not targeting foreigners. Following the advice, we booked a hotel in new Kingston in the north, far away from all of this. In the taxi from the airport to the hotel we chatted with the driver and also spoke about crime. He said “no problem, that was in the past when we had political tension but today it’s all good. Especially the area you go to is perfectly safe”. We felt pretty good till we reached our hotel. The first road was blocked by the police as was the second. We then tried to walk to the hotel but where stopped by the police. “There is a crime scene and investigation is ongoing”. Well, a bit a weird welcome after all we read and heard about Kingston.
We never got the official story but were told it was an accident involving a police scooter where the driver of the car fled and the police shot in the air.