Businessman’s fatal shooting of son unfortunate – associates
Published:Sunday | January 9, 2022 | 12:13 AMHopeton Bucknor - Sunday Gleaner Writer
Family and friends of 26-year-old Steven ‘Short Boss’ Taylor, the young businessman who was reportedly shot to death by his father at their home in Rhyne Park Village, St James, have labelled his death an accident, urging persons to stop spreading news to the contrary.
According to police reports, shortly after 4:30 a.m., on Friday, the deceased’s father, who is a licensed firearm holder, was at home when he heard strange sounds coming from a section of the house and went to investigate. He reportedly discharged one round from his firearm after seeing a shadow at the entrance to the upper section of the house.
It later turned out that he had shot his son, who had awoken early from his sleep and had gone outside the house to have a smoke.
Yesterday, a neighbour, who gave his name as Sterling, related to The Sunday Gleaner what he described as “the unfortunate truth” .
According to him, the father in question had called him when the unfortunate accident occurred, and he also transported the wounded son to the Hospiten medical facility in Rose Hall, where he later died.
“Taylor would never intentionally harm his son, and, since the incident occurred, the entire family and the community at large has been left traumatised. Taylor is a man who cares for all his children and plays the role of mother and father to each and every one of them,” Sterling said.
“He was at home when he heard strange sounds coming from the upper section of the house and went to investigate. Thinking that it was a burglar, he carefully made checks in all the rooms to see that everyone was alright, because there are small children and other family members living there.”
Sterling further stated that his friend did not bother to check Steven’s room because his door was locked and his dad reportedly did not want to invade his privacy, but he continued his search of the house and found that a door leading to the outside balcony of an upper unfinished section was open.
The neighbour said that, from what he had gathered, the door immediately pushed towards the frightened dad, who, without hesitation, discharged his licensed firearm, thinking that his household was under threat from robbers.
“I hear the gunshots from my house next door and, seconds later, he called out to me,” Sterling said.
“I quickly ran over only to discover my friend in shock while trying to explain that he had accidentally shot Steven. I quickly drove my car around and we rushed him to Hospiten. Even during the journey, my car got punctured, but we managed to reach the medical facility, and, after the doctors attended to Steven, they gave us the sad news that he had passed,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.
An uncle of the deceased said that his nephew was very quiet, loving, kind, and a brilliant businessman.
“Steven was the best son any father could have. He was a young businessman who spent most of his time trying to better his clothing-line company, and he and his father were like peas in a pod,” the uncle stated.
A senior police officer told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday that the father was still in custody.
“We cannot give a comment to the media at this time, but I can safely say the accused father is still in police custody. The firearm was seized and he is still being questioned,” the officer said.