The frantic voice of her daughter pleading for help over the telephone moments before she was killed will forever haunt Natasha Hall.
Hall’s daughter, 30-year-old Lashane Ellis, and her one-year-old grandson, Kaheel Daley, were killed on Friday night when armed men went to their home on Kidd Lane, off Spanish Town Road in St Andrew, opened fire and set the house ablaze.
Before fleeing, the gunmen reportedly opened fire on a neighbouring house, killing 39-year-old Kimeisha Gibson.
“Mi lay down in there and mi hear the shots dem a buss, but mi never know say it was in mi yard until mi daughter call mi and say, ‘Mommy come throw water on the house’. But I couldn’t reach the water to throw it because the fire was high. She didn’t even cry. She was just saying ‘Throw water, mi mada’. She had sickle cell so she probably knock out, she and her baby. Mi grandson roast like when you a roast chicken,” Hall said, a tear trickling down her face.
Ellis, who was described as a dedicated mother, died leaving behind an eight-year-old girl who escaped the gruesome attack uninjured.
Hug up her baby
“She love her pickney dem, eno. She did a hug up her baby. She put the mattress over her like she a try protect them from the fire. She couldn’t even run because is one door on the house and dem already a shoot from outside. I just couldn’t do anything to help them,” she said.
Gibson’s teenage daughter appeared dazed as she helped relatives remove belongings from the house she had shared with her mother. She pointed to a section of the floor stained with Gibson’s blood and recounted how, upon hearing the gunshots, she rushed to her mother’s room to wake her.
“Mi hear the shots and mi run out my room and tell my mother to wake up and see when she get shot. I then ran back in my room and go under the bed and after that mi run outside and then a run go back in to wake up my mother but she never wake up,” the girl said.
Residents were seen hastily moving out
As members of the security forces maintained a strong presence in the area, several residents were seen hastily moving out. One woman told The Sunday Gleaner that she feared for her life and the lives of her loved ones.
“Right now any card can play, so I am not staying here. Mi ‘fraid bad because when gunman can find the heart to kill a baby and two woman, you just don’t know what else dem will do. Yesterday (Friday) mi a play with the little boy and today him just gone like that. Mi see the two girl dem and dem did happy and now dem gone too. Mi will never set back foot ‘round here suh because the memories nuh pretty,” the woman said.
In a statement yesterday afternoon, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness condemned the attack, labelling it “an assault on the sensibilities of the entire nation, spreading fear through criminal terror”.
Holness, while expressing condolences to the families of the victims, said the police and other agencies of the government would be fully mobilised to provide emotional and material support to them and the community.
“No innocent citizen should have to flee their community because of gangs and organised violence,” he added. “It is the gunmen who must flee.
“We must not stop or relax our fight against crime, criminals and illegal weapons until they are separated from our society. While we understand that the community is in fear at the moment, this is an opportunity for residents to take back their communities and secure real peace by sharing information on the incident through established protected channels.”
In the meantime, Minister of National Security and Peace Dr Horace Chang, who also condemned the attack, noted it came amid escalating intra-gang conflict in Kidd Lane and Bowens Road following what he said were successful police operations that have disrupted criminal networks in those communities.
Chang warned that the security forces would not relent in pursuing those responsible.
“Let me be clear. The police have intelligence on persons involved in this attack, and every available lead will be pursued to identify, locate and apprehend them,” the minister said. “Those responsible will be relentlessly pursued and brought before the courts. There will be no retreat, no compromise and no safe haven for criminals who believe they can murder innocent people and escape justice.”
Earlier yesterday, Dr Angella Brown-Burke, member of parliament for St Andrew South West where the incident occurred, described the killers and arsonists as “monsters” and urged anyone with information to come forward.
“The question that is left to be asked is who are these persons and are they also born of a mother or do they have sisters. How have they become these monsters? I am saying to anybody who may have any information or saw anything suspicious to report it,” she said.
Yesterday, the St Andrew South Police named 11 people of interest as investigations intensified into the triple murder and arson.
In a post on the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s social media pages, the police said the individuals were being sought in connection with the investigation into the killings and ongoing gang-related violence in the Kidd Lane and Bowens Road communities.
At the same time, however, a highly placed police source told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday that one of the suspect’s in Friday’s attack was killed in a confrontation with members of the security forces on Wellington Road yesterday.
simone.morgan-lindo@gleanerjm.com
