‘Tell the children I love them’
Dying woman urges fiancé to keep promise after gun attack
Published:Friday | June 17, 2022 | 12:09 AMRuddy Mathison/Gleaner Writer
Donald Williams did not hesitate to dash from inside his house to see what had transpired when gunshots rang out at his gate on Wednesday evening. The sight of his 43-year-old fiancée, Nekeisha Pottinger, lying stomach-down at the gate was not what he had anticipated.
“She came through the gate and drop right here,” Williams said yesterday, pointing to a spot just inside the gate constructed from zinc sheets where Pottinger fell.
“I picked her up right away and put her in the van and carry her to the hospital,” the tearful man told The Gleaner.
Pottinger was shot about 7:45 p.m. as she entered Pittsburgh Road yard in Homestead, Spanish Town, as a gang conflict now playing out in St Catherine South Central claimed its latest victim.
According to Williams, his fiancée had gone to visit relatives of one of the men found dead in a Toyota Probox motor car in Portmore Villa on Wednesday, who live within the proximity of her house, but was attacked as she returned home.
“I spoke to her for about a minute, and her last words were 'Tell the children I love them and remember the promise you made to me 15 years ago',” Williams added, choking on the words.
That promise, he disclosed when he regained his composure, was to always keep a cool head despite any adversity he may encounter.
A resident of the community told The Gleaner that the ongoing conflict started when a man known as 'Tafony', who was believed to be a member of the Valdez Road Gang, was shot dead at a container bar in Homestead in early April.
This killing reportedly triggered a reprisal in which gunmen invaded the home of 52-year-old dressmaker Andrea Mitchell Young of Mansfield Avenue a few days later and killed her, reportedly claiming that one of her relatives was involved in Tafony's murder.
The killings have triggered an all-out war between the Valdez Road and Mansfield Avenue gangs, with reports that the Mansfield Avenue Gang has vowed to kill six mothers to avenge Mitchell Young's death.
Williams told The Gleaner that his son, who hangs out with friends from Valdez Road, has been accused of forming an alliance with persons from Valdez Road and has been labelled a turncoat by Mansfield Avenue gangsters.
This led to his son's house been shot up, and he narrowly escaped death again about a month ago when he was shot in the legs, allegedly by members of the Mansfield Avenue Gang.
The situation took a different turn when the police recently arrested his son as a suspect in Mitchell Young's murder after he was reportedly pointed out by two other persons who were injured in the attack at the home of the deceased dressmaker.
The elder Williams insisted that his son is being framed by members of the Mansfield Avenue Gang, having cut ties with them.
“[My son] has nothing to do with the death of the woman. He was home when she died,” he told The Gleaner.
The Spanish Town area is also being rattled by another bloody gang conflict between members of the One Don and Clansman gangs. Several victims were killed this week in the latest explosion of violence, which also disrupted commerce, commute, and schools as tension gripped several communities in the Old Capital.