By Omar Anderson, Gleaner WriterTWENTY-YEAR-OLD CRAIG Robinson loved chicken and plain rice! At about 9:30 on Monday night, he was cooking his favourite dish, not knowing it would be his last.
Three rifle-toting gunmen invaded his home on Pleasant View Avenue or 'Rasta Avenue' in Eight Miles, Bull Bay, St. Andrew, killing him and
seriously wounding his eight-year-old niece, Shanay Wright.
Today, his mother, Hyacinth Campbell, 61, who is self-employed, lives to tell the tale of how her life and those of her eight, 10, 12, three, and six-year-old grandchildren were spared while they huddled under a bed.
Her dress soaked from her son's blood, Ms. Campbell told The Gleaner yesterday that about 8:30 on Monday night, she was at home with her son and her grandchildren watching television when they all heard gunshots.
GRANDCHILDREN PANICKED
She said her grandchildren panicked then she turned off the light. Later, she heard a commotion directly outside her door as if someone was trying to forcefully enter the house. She guessed right!
She tried desperately to smother her grandchildren's terrified shrieks. The entire family then sought refuge under a bed inside the house. By now, one of the gunmen had entered the house.
"Him seh who deh ya, an' me seh to him a me an me grandchildren dem," Ms. Campbell remembered. "Me seh we yu ago kill we for, yuh nuh see she ah pure children deh ya."
According to her, she "bawl out 'Jesus', an' him (the gunman) seh 'Yu t'ink Jesus can help yu?'."
"Me bawl out Jesus an' ah so de gun stick," said the 61-year-old. After this, she said the gunmen saw that Mr. Robinson was under the bed as well. The gunmen then fired several bullets, hitting him and her granddaughter in her chest.
NO APPETITE
Up to yesterday morning, hardly anyone in the household had an appetite. Everyone was still trying to come to terms with the shock, especially one of Ms. Campbell's daughters abroad, who had sent her daughter (Ms. Campbell's six-year-old granddaughter) to visit her grandmother for the summer.
"All now it (the food) deh pon de stove cuz nobody nuh eat it," Ms. Campbell said. Meanwhile, Mr. Robinson's killing was just one of three murders that occurred in the community on Monday night.
Also killed were Marvin Henderson, 20, of Lime Tree Lane in Eight Miles, Bull Bay. His mother, Khama Marrett, 40, told The Gleaner he was killed while he and his friend were studying the Bible to perform at a play at a church on Sunday.
Tears welling in her eyes, Ms. Marrett told The Gleaner her son had always wanted to become a member of the security force. He nearly did!
"He passed the police test and they called him yesterday (Monday) that he should come for an interview on Thursday," his grief-stricken mom said.
THREE MASKED MEN
The official police report on the triple murder is that about 9:30 p.m., three masked men went into the community where they went into Mr. Robinson's house and shot him and his niece. After leaving, Henderson was shot dead while with a group of friends.
The Constabulary Commun-ication Network said the gunmen's next victim was 30-year-old Marshall Nelson, also of Pleasant View Avenue. He was killed at his house.
The Kingston Eastern Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) theorised that the murders were in retaliation for the death of Dean Castello, 30, a mason of Pleasant View Avenue. He was killed in the community on Monday.
Investigators said an ongoing gang feud has since claimed the lives of several men in the community.
More than 930 people have been killed since the start of the year.
