Even though Sumiyya Davis lived a life of poverty she was willing to give her last dollar to those who needed it more. Davis, 16, a student of ASJA Girls’ College, in Charlieville, was killed by a bullet which pierced the weather-beaten plyboard of her home on Saturday.
She was helping her friend, Anya, with Spanish, while lying on her bed when she was shot shortly after noon at her Mandela Drive, Orange Field Road, Carapichaima. The bullet ripped through her hip and exited at her neck.
The gunshot startled her father, Herdis Taylor, and three of her siblings who were watching television. Police believe the gunshot came from criminal gangs in the community and was not intended for Sumiyya. Anya said yesterday she became frantic when she saw blood and assisted her friend who later died at the hospital.
Anya said Sumiyya displayed a spirit of philanthropy.
“Sumiyya is a person who would help anyone. She almost get bounce crossing the road to give a vagrant a dollar,” Anya said. She said Sumiyya also assisted a single mother by giving the woman all of her travelling money and had to be picked up by a relative. Anya said she would like to get justice for her friend.
She said Sumiyya wanted to be a pediatrician and to open an orphanage when she got older. Investigators from Homicide Bureau, Southern Division were at the crime scene yesterday where they examined the house for bullet holes and removed a blood stained mattress.
Sumiyya’s grandmother, Carol Devenish, described her granddaughter as a very bright student.
“I find the good ones die and the bad one continue to live,” Devenish said.
—Adrian Boodan (CNC3)