Family in fear
Relatives say they are under the gun following the killing of two cousins
OCHO RIOS, St Ann — Shellshocked members of a St Ann family are appealing for police detectives to intensify their probe into what they consider to be targeted attacks which have left two cousins dead and another relative the recipient of death threats.
The slain cousins, who grew up together at Buckfield in Ocho Rios, St Ann, have been identified as 25-year-old lifeguard Anthony James and 26-year-old Andy Reid, who is better known as Fry Eye.
Police reported that, in relation to James, gunmen on foot shot him about 8:30 pm last week Monday while he was among a group of men playing a game of dominoes in his community. The other men were not harmed.
The other cousin, Reid, was gunned down in the town of Ocho Rios in May last year.
Police said Reid was standing at the entrance to a cookshop when he was fatally shot. The cookshop operator, Ivan
Williams, who was believed to be in his early 60s, was also fatally shot in that attack.
Reid’s mother, Michelle Grant, told the Jamaica Observer that she has been receiving death threats although she does not live in Jamaica.
“Dem send come threaten seh dem a go gun mi down wen mi come a Jamaica,” she said.
“Mi nuh do anybody anything. Dem gun down mi son and a plan fi kill mi. Dem a kill off mi family dem jus like that,” added Grant.
She said that she was still mourning the death of her son when she was hit by the news regarding James. She recalled speaking with him in recent days before he, too, was killed.
“I am so depressed, I am so stressed out,” Grant declared.
“Mi heart a give way. Mi can’t tek it anymore, mi can’t deal with it.”
Grant expressed dissatisfaction with the level of police investigation, especially in relation to the one-year-old murder case.
“Look how close the police station is [to the crime scene].
“Mi need justice fi mi cousin, and mi need justice for my son... When I say the police are not doing any work, dem not doing any work. They get information [about] who gun down mi son but that person still walking up and down,” charged Grant.
In the meantime, a female cousin of the slain men told the Observer that she is not aware of them being involved in criminality.
“If they were involved in any wrongdoing, it is not what we know of,” she said.
“James especially was such a peaceful and quiet person. He was always happy; he and everybody get along.”
The cousin further stated that James became a father only last month.
“To know that his child will not know him is really rough,” she said. “My uncle also lost his best son [James], who took care of him.”
The cousin also joined Reid’s mother in trying to fathom the motive for the gun attacks.
“We don’t know where this is coming from... Right now, the family is broken. We are broken in every way... There is no word to explain the way we feel right now about this,” she said.