Two grandmothers cried out for justice yesterday, after losing their grandsons to gun violence in two separate incidents on Saturday.
In the second case, grandmother Shirley Addly was mourning the death of Jerome Julien, 21, who was killed while liming in a track off Blackford Lane, Cantaro Village, Santa Cruz, on Saturday night. Julien, who lived at Upper Sam Boucaud, Santa Cruz, died while being taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope.
Yesterday, Addly said her grandson had earlier in the day borrowed a stove top from her to cook dumplings and callaloo, which he shared with friends and two men he had stopped speaking to. He was on his way to his girlfriend’s house to drop off some of the meal when he was killed.
Police said around 11 pm, three masked men approached a group of men Julien was with and opened fire. Julien and four unidentified men were hit. All were taken to hospital but only Julien died.
Speaking at her home yesterday, Addly described her grandson as a handsome man who did nothing to deserve his death. She noted, however, that he seemed to have associated with people “marked for death”. She added that her grandson was given the nickname “Kemo” because he was handsome like a soap opera star and his signature smile could uplift a gloomy room.
Julien’s mother, Aleen Sween, said her son, who worked at Linda’s Bakery, was a jolly man. She said she last saw him last week when he went to visit her. She recalled her son telling her that the men he associated with were being “hunted,” but added that they were “cool fellas” and that she should not worry.
In the first case, Vella Roberts, 59, yesterday recalled how grandson Jerrel Roberts, whom she raised as her own from a young age, was shot in the head around 1.30 am Saturday. The 14-year-old pupil, who was about to enter form three, died around 3.45 pm at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital.
Speaking to the media at her Pioneer Drive, Sea Lots home, Roberts called on the shooter and other killers to put down their guns. She said her grandchild was now one of three relatives killed by the gun in the area they called home and it was hurting her, especially having lived in the community for over 50 years.
“When will this stop? These youths not getting to live, it is time to stop the senseless killing. I lost three by gun shots. Jah see and know all, if it is revenge then the killing would not stop,” Roberts said.
“Right now I want God to come in my heart because I feeling different about this. To the shooter, you have children, how would you feel if somebody do this to them?”
According to police reports, a street fete was being held in Sea Lots when around 1.30 am a gunman opened fire indiscriminately, hitting Roberts in the head. He was taken to hospital where he died while being treated.
Roberts said her grandson was not involved in any criminal activity. Outside of football he loved going to his aunt for lunch and playing cards, she said. She questioned why someone would want to kill her grandchild, adding that the shooter had no reason to be armed at a party in his own community.
On January 6, 2008, Roberts also lost her first grandchild to gunmen. Neil Roberts succumbed to injuries he sustained after being shot in the leg five days earlier when a friend, Dameon “Chucky” Charles, was killed while liming at Pioneer Drive. Two months later on March 14, her son, Damien Roberts, was killed while standing in a shop in the area.
Both grandmothers will be at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, today for the autopsies. The murder toll now stands at 274 for the year.