Residents of Chapman Lane, St Michael, say they are still trying to come to terms with the fatal shooting of a young man from their community, the third area resident to be killed this year.
The death of Jameson Fields, 30, of 3rd Avenue, Chapman Lane, has pushed the country’s murder toll for the year to 33.
Fields was sitting near a shed at Hutson Alley, The City, at about 5.35 pm on Sunday when he was shot by an assailant.
He was transported by ambulance to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
When Barbados TODAY visited the Chapman Lane area on Monday, residents expressed frustration over the continued violence, saying they were tired of the shootings and fearful for the safety of children living in the community.
“Too much man, it needs to stop,” one woman said. “You can’t get to gripes, you gotta be careful with your children, its a good thing that little children wasn’t out there because that gap, plenty little children live through there. It was early. Its sad.”
The woman said she was awakened by a neighbour who told her gunshots had been heard. She said she rushed outside because her daughter lives nearby and saw Fields lying on the ground.
“I ran out there now cause my daughter lives there, I see he there laying down, couldn’t believe it.”
She recalled other murders in the area in recent months:
“We had three murders through here, one was right here, and one was to the back going ‘round and then they come here.”
Another resident said the latest killing added to a number of murders in the area in “less than a year, between the ending of June [last year] and now they had four. You son in law, the boy here, the other one and Juni four.”
Residents remembered Fields, who was known as Juni, as a jovial and friendly young man who was well loved in the community.
“Nice little youngster, quiet, so sorry,” one resident said as she became emotional.
“He [would] come through, crack jokes, you know young people make you laugh. Up to last week I was sitting at home and he come through keeping noise like a siren and the people tell he: “You gotta stop that you got people feeling something happen.”
The resident also expressed concern for Fields’ mother, saying the news had taken a toll on her health.
“I heard he mother not doing too well too; it’s her child, say she pressure went up. You gotta go through these things to know.”
(LG)
