BELMONT resident Tee Bruce said her heart was “mashed up” following the murders of her son Asim Armstrong and granddaughter J’Layna Armstrong along Lady Young Road, Morvant, on Sunday night.
The two were among five people in a vehicle returning from a lime at Harry’s Water Park in Tabaquite when they were ambushed by gunmen from another vehicle. Armstrong, his nine-year-old niece J’Layna, Obataiye Latiff and Chelsea Edwards were all killed; while the fifth passenger, 23-year-old Cornelius Short, survived and was hospitalised.
Port of Spain South MP:
Keith Scotland
“I am numb. Numb is the word to say. I have no more feelings. I cry every minute,” Bruce told the Express yesterday.
She said her son and his niece were close, like “ring on finger”, and as a mother of three boys J’Layna was like the daughter she never had. She recalled packing J’Layna’s clothes for the waterpark on Sunday and her walking out to meet her uncle.
“Everybody was good. Everything was okay,” she said.
She added: “Now it’s an up and down for me. I have three boys…The child’s father’s is not taking it good at all. I have full support from my friends and family.”
Asked how she chose to remember the child, she said: “I felt it for little Angelica Saydee Jogie who died in the jet ski incident in Tobago. Just seven. So sweet and innocent. Now I have my own tragedy.
“The Mayor of Port of Spain (Chinua Alleyne) will tell you she (J’Layna) will get on very bad, if you don’t pronounce her name properly. She was outspoken…loving…intelligent. She was meant to be a star.”
She added: “She liked drama. This morning, I was looking at her paintings in her bedroom. Sceneries. She liked art.”
She lauded her mother for her dedication to J’Layna.
“Her mother loved her. Her mother is a hard-working individual. She would deliver sushi to her at school for her birthday. If she took part in a walkathon, she bought flowers for her. Her stepfather was a major part of her life. We all accepted him. (Veteran actress, producer and drama teacher) Penelope Spencer knows her well. She knew about her potential.”
On her son, Bruce said he was a cancer survivor.
“He was diagnosed at 20. He fought very bad and aggressive cancer. Around Christmas time, he went through a lot. He pulled through. He loved to play football. But he had to stop. Now his life has ended in this manner,” she said.
She added: “The little girl he died with was his eyeball. It’s coincidental they died together. They were very close.”
Her son would have celebrated his birthday on May 31.
“We were planning a trip. Maybe St Lucia. It’s a beautiful place. We don’t have any animosity. As a family, we are trying to do the best we can do with what we have. Everybody is good,” she said.
She reported she was not having any wakes but a night of prayers for Armstrong and J’Layna.”
‘Unfathomable’
Port of Spain South Member of Parliament Keith Scotland also commented on the incident during a telephone interview yesterday.
“What has occurred there is more than a tragedy. It’s something that has changed the mood of the nation. It’s unfathomable what has transpired. I want to send condolences to the entire family. I am truly saddened. I want to extend condolences. I don’t even know her. But what I have heard and read, it’s clear, she was a good child. She was on the right path,” he said.
He added: “…The murders have devastated the Morvant/Laventille community and the country. Then you add the incident with Cpl Eversley at San Fernando. Then the 56 bodies being buried at Cumuto cemetery. It’s a lot for the country to process. It’s sad.”
On Monday morning, Morvant residents expressed profound “shock” and “sadness” at the murders. A female resident, who was preparing for work, said: “It’s sad. Who would want to hurt a child?”
Another male resident added: “I think I know one of the guys (killed) and the child. It’s sad.”
Another woman said, “It’s sad. We have to keep praying. Day in, day out. We have to cover ourselves.”
