Weeks after deadly gunfire took the life of a young man from a community within East Kingstown, a husband and wife with two kids who bore the effects of a barrage of gunfire close to their home, mere footsteps from their front door, sat down with News784 to share their harrowing experience and their thoughts on crime.
Their names and some personal details have been withheld to protect their identity…
(Father)
“It was around 9 o’clock the night and I was in the kitchen. I and the wife just started to hear here bullets going off. Upon the second one, we dash from the kitchen area hunker down with the kids in another part of the house”.
“Following that we heard like a bang behind the house. It’s after that we realize someone had run out of the road and down into our property”.
The father said they heard even more gunshots and then everything went silent.
“From thereafter, like a minute or so, we got up and I asked my family if everybody good. Everybody says yes. Not too long after the silence, we heard a sound, like moaning and realize that someone was close to the front door”.
“The truth is it sound like someone was in pain and on the verge of dying. You know? The sounds of death. I did not really want to leave somebody to die, so I went outside.
By the time I reach the guy I was in shock! He was not speaking and his eyes were rolling back in his head”.
“We grabbed him up and took him up to the road and we place some sheets in the vehicle to take him to the hospital”.
“By the time we organize the van, the guy was just there like he done dead, so I was actually going to leave him in the road but then he took a gasp of breath. So we took him and rushed to the hospital about 15 minutes later they told us he was dead.
(Mother)
The mother of the children told News784 that a lot of crime had been taking place in the area for the time she had been living there. However to see it taking place in her yard was something she is struggling to come to grips with, adding that it has severely traumatized their children.
“You can see there’s a change of mood. You can see that they are still scared. To be honest I am still shaken up by this whole event. I did not grow up in a community like this. It’s so nerve racking!”
“On that night when the bullets went off, their eyes told the story of fear as I have never seen. My son got sick, headaches at once followed by a stomach ache. My daughter, she did not want to eat. She started to vomit. They were very traumatized! It was terrible! I had to calm them down while trying to compose myself. I hardly got any sleep that night”.
(Mother Speaks About The Police)
The still distraught mother said that while the police spoke with them there was no expression of reassurance.
“They did not take any statement from us. We just explained to them that we heard the gunshot, and what we saw outside after”.
When asked about the police response time, the mother told News784 that the lawmen arrived within 5- 10 minutes.
“I think it was good response time.” the mother opined.
(Father Speaks About Crime)
The father described the situation as being difficult and said it was impacting on him as the family’s income earner.
“I can’t just leave her home because of the situation with the kids, I have to take time off to make sure they are safe. This will have to be done until they pass through this stage and settle back down”.
The father told News784 that he sees nothing is being done about crime in the area. He says in this day and age where the whole world is doing DNA testing, in his opinion, not even proper fingerprinting is being done here in St Vincent.
“The police need proper tools to work with. They have to step it up or the crime will increase. People not feeling safe, and the truth is, from the time a man threatens you and he feel you going to take action, he going to kill you first! It’s just sad.”
The father said he is not sure if placing mobile units in the area will make any difference.
“It might help to make people feel safe but I am not sure how it is going to stop the crime. Again it’s my opinion. I am not sure that is going to be any big deterrent”.
