Mom loses third son to violence

It was an all-too-familiar affair for Annete Lodge as soon after she heard explosions ringing out in a nearby community on Sunday afternoon, she was told that another of her sons had been murdered.

The mother of eight – six boys and two girls – has now lost her third son to violence.

This time, her 24-year-old son, Sheldon Williams, of Wint Road and Relay Road addresses, was among two men fatally shot on Rhoden Crescent in St Andrew after a game of football on church grounds.

The other deceased is 25-year-old Oshane Ashley of a Four Forty Drive address.

When The Gleaner visited Lodge’s McKinley Crescent home on Monday, she was surrounded by relatives and friends offering support.

She invited our news team inside to relate her painful ordeal for the third time.

“I was eating my dinner and mi hear di shot dem and mi run come down the road. Everybody go round deh ... ,” Lodge said.

“A she mi see a run come say dem shot Sheldon, but I didn’t know he was dead,” Laing said, pointing to someone close by.

A visit to the hospital would confirm that Williams died from multiple gunshot wounds, most of were to his upper back.

The grieving mother said Williams reared animals and operated a bar for a living.

“Mi nah tell no lie, he is a nice youth ... ,” she said “Now a three sons mi have weh dead; dem shoot dem,” Lodge said.

She also recalled that Ricardo, another of her sons, was slain while on his way to work.

When The Gleaner visited Four Forty Drive, Ashley’s mother, Alice Garcia, and his sister, Peta-Gaye Nelson, were reflecting on his life in the company of friends.

They said Ashley, a security guard, was an avid football fan, who played the sport at the location every Sunday.

“Him jovial. Anywhere at all him deh, people affi laugh. Mi no have nothing bad to say about him, not because he is family, but mi can’t point out nothing bad to say about him,” Nelson said.

They added that Ashley, a father of three, worked tirelessly to take care of his family.

Nelson spoke of her brother’s charm with women, adding that she thought that would herald his downfall, not a bullet.

“A just dat with him. Mi think a woman would a kill him ... to how him just walk around and have woman all about,” she said.

The chatter brought laughter for his mother, who was still visibly shaken.

She told The Gleaner she last spoke to her son on Friday, when he visited her in Ewarton, St Catherine.

“By mi go fi open the bar, a him mi see drive up, and him spend a while with mi and spend and support me. When him a leave, him say, ‘Mommy, di girl dem nice. Him hug mi up and say, ‘Mommy, mi a come back Saturday because mi like di vibes,” Garcia said, showing a tattoo with his name on her chest.

She told The Gleaner that her son was not involved in wrongdoing as he could walk freely anywhere and was never in hiding.

The St Andrew South police are probing the double murder.

The division has seen a near 24 per cent reduction in murders this year, accompanied by a 14 per cent dip in shootings.

Up to September 1, ninety murders were committed, compared to 118 during the corresponding period in 2021.

Robberies and break-ins are the only other major crimes with increased reports year-on-year.

The nation’s murder count for 2022 stands at 1,018, according to the latest police statistics.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com