Authorities are urging anyone with information to come forward after a deadly shooting in Chopin, Castries left three men dead and another fighting for his life, devastating families and reigniting calls to address gun violence.
The victims – brothers Jesse Charles, 28, and Emon Charles, 45, both from Chopin, along with their 36-year-old neighbour Servelus Bernard – were killed in the Wednesday evening attack. A fourth victim, whose identity has not been released, remained in critical condition as of Friday.
The quiet of April 30 was shattered by gunfire followed by grief which is almost too much to bear for the mother of Jesse and Emon Charles. In a raw and emotional interview, she recounted the harrowing moment she heard the gunshots that took the lives of her sons.
“I called [Jesse] and I said bring a Sprite for me…. He was on the phone with me,” she said, struggling through tears. “Then I came out the door and I heard multiple bullets…. I didn’t even know my older one, Emon, was there. He just came from work.”
Through broken phrases and anguish, she described running toward the scene and finding Emon lying face down, unable to speak but still conscious. She called out to him, shook him and begged him to respond.
“Then one of my daughters told me, ‘Mommy, Jesse’s in the balcony’. When I entered, I saw Jesse lying down flat. He was already dead. I took him, I put his head on my lap…. All the bullets in his ribs, all in his arm… and I stayed there until the ambulance came.”
Jesse had only returned home on March 17 after serving time at the Bordelais Correctional Facility. The mother said she had heard rumours that “whoever come out from jail will get it,” and her heart sank when she realised Jesse may have been targeted.
While Jesse had no children, Emon left behind three.
“They shouldn’t kill him like that,” she said. “He did his time. He just come back. They have to stop that…. That violence has to stop.”
