Mark Beckford, Staff Reporter

Christmas for the family of Grace Walker will be very bleak. Walker became an addition to the burgeoning murder statistics for the year, as she was killed yesterday morning in a busy shopping centre in St. Andrew.

Co-workers of 40-year-old Ms. Walker of Drewsland in Waterhouse, St. Andrew, wept openly yesterday after viewing her body in the undertaker's vehicle.

Their cries interspersed the solemn discussion, heard at a shopping centre at the intersection of Seaward Drive and Molynes Road in St. Andrew, about her as persons discussed her shooting death and the injuring of her daughter, who was also attacked.

Popular at work

Ms. Walker, who worked at Nicies Food Limited, was obviously popular at her workplace, evidenced by the grief displayed by her colleagues as they viewed her body. "No more fun at work, no more laughing!" exclaimed one woman who had just seen her lifeless body.

"She is one of the best workers, very jovial, very hard-working; she always told you what she thought. I don't even know what to say," Kevin, one of her co-workers, told The Sunday Gleaner.

Shot at mall

Based on preliminary investigations by the police, it appears as if Ms. Walker's demise was as a result of gang warfare in the Drewsland community, which is one of the hot spots in the island.

According to police reports, shortly after 11:00 a.m, Ms. Walker and her daughter were making purchases at a hardware store at the shopping centre. A group of men armed with guns approached them and opened fire, hitting them. Ms. Walker died on the spot, while her daughter was admitted to hospital, where up to press time, she was battling for life.