Grief counselling at Grange Hill in Westmoreland over killing of 16-y-o schoolboy

Counselling sessions were this morning held with students and staff at Grange Hill High School in Westmoreland following the brutal killing of 16-year-old Carson Barrett last Thursday.

Barrett, who was preparing to sit Social Studies at the Caribbean Secondary School Examination Certification (CSEC) later this year, was chased, shot and killed allegedly by criminal gangsters while he was walking home from school at the end of Sports Day activities.

A 15-year-old female schoolmate was also shot in the attack.   

However, her injuries are not considered life threatening and she is recovering. 

Officials from the Ministry of Education today provided grief counselling to Barrett's classmates and the wider school family who are distraught. 

Gala Ghans, one of several guidance counsellors at the school, was moved to tears as she tried to encourage the grieving students.

She told them that it was good that so many of them were able to attend school this morning. 

“It's a special moment for all of us, especially me. He is somebody who lived across the street from me and I knew him from when he was a baby,” Ghans told the students. 

"We are happy to see so many of you here this morning. It means that we are not going to let anything or anybody stop us or to get the better of us,” she said, reminding them that the entire staff loved and cared for them.

The Westmoreland police reported that on April 25, two men opened gunfire on the teens along Belle Isle Road in the parish.

They said both victims had just left school and were walking along the roadway when they were pounced upon by two suspects travelling on a motorcycle.

The motorcycle stopped and the pillion disembarked with a gun in his hand and opened gunfire at both victims, who ran in different directions.

It is further reported that Barrett ran in the direction of the monument at the entrance of Belle Isle Road where he was chased by the pillion who continued to fire gunshots at him. 

According to the police, Barrett collapsed along the roadway following which residents alerted the police and upon their arrival, the teen was found lying face down in blood suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body.

Initial reports from the police said Barrett may have been killed as a result of his association with members of the infamous Kings Valley Gang operating in Grange Hill, which has had an ongoing feud with the emerging Ants Posse Gang, which also has operational clusters in Grange Hill.

- Albert Ferguson 

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