Grieving mother said she begged singer to stay away from Orleans

For months, Felicia Grannum had been pleading with her first-born son Jeremiah Grannum to abandon life in New Orleans, The City and return to the quaint and peaceful environment in Woodland, St George, where he was raised.

On Sunday, news that he was coming home to share a meal with his family compelled his 42-year-old mother to wake up “extra early” and cook in preparation for her son’s arrival.

Halfway through this process she received a call. Her son had been shot near 5th Avenue, New Orleans. Moments later, Felicia’s phone rang again. Jeremiah would never make it home.

Police say that around 8:45 a.m. on Sunday, Grannum – who was reportedly involved in an altercation – was chased by two masked men who fired several shots. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

“From there, I was not the same… If they had shot and injured him, I could have dealt with that, but not kill him,” said the grieving mother with tears streaming down her cheeks.

Under the shadow of a large tree in the quaint and rural district, Felicia revealed that her son, who owned a small house in Woodland next to his mother’s preferred to stay in New Orleans with a girlfriend.

But given the community’s reputation as a hotspot for crime, her mind was never at ease. Added to her concerns was the fact that not long before he was gunned down, Jeremiah had been held at gunpoint due to a “misunderstanding”.

“I called him and begged him to come home multiple times. I begged him and begged him, and he kept saying ‘mum, give me two more weeks’ and the weeks kept adding on and I just begged him. But he is 20, so it is not like I could beat him and bring him home. He’s a big boy,” she acknowledged.

Hours after the fatal shooting, numerous songs recorded by Jeremiah glorifying violence and crime have been making the rounds on social media. While his mother did not like some of the music her son produced, she maintains that he was no “gun person”.

“I wouldn’t say that he was a gun person or lived a gun life. I would never say that because I would be lying. He  may have had his one or two differences with people, but I am telling you that my child was a loving person. The things he sang about were not a reflection of the type of person he was. He was just singing and doing it for ‘kicks’,” said Grannum.

“He loved singing bad. Every time he sat down and something came to his head, he would just sing and flow. I used to tell him ‘Jeremiah, I gave you the name of a prophet and your second name is the name of a singer. You have the talent and sometimes you could sing something more positive or about girls’… I did not like it. That is the truth,” she admitted.

The tearful mother recalled her son as one who could “get you vex”, but who could also lift your spirits with his charm and sense of humour.

“If you are sad all you have to do is call him. He would talk so much nonsense. He would make up a song and sing. Every child is hard-ears, honestly, but my child didn’t deserve to die like this, because he had so much good in his heart… there was so much love that boy gave,” she added.

Elsewhere in the community of Woodland, an elderly woman by the name of Irene Holligan told Barbados TODAY she had adopted Jeremiah as her own grandson and attempted to mold the young man from the tender age of seven until he left the Grantley Adams Memorial School nearly a decade later.

Holligan said she had taken Jeremiah to regular services at the nearby Seventh Day Adventist Church where he also attended the Pathfinder Club. She later took Jeremiah to the bakery where she worked to wash pans and enrolled him in the Government’s Skills Training programme.

But according to Holligan, Jeremiah quickly grew weary of country life as he reached the age of 17.

“All that was left for Jeremiah to do was follow your instructions but at some point, all of us have choices. Sometimes we choose wrong and sometimes we choose right. Unfortunately, Jeremiah chose a path that led him to his death. At this point in time, I do not really have any feelings now that he is gone,” she admitted.

Back at Jeremiah’s former home in Woodland, his mother is extremely concerned about the prospect of having to bury her son with only ten people present due to the restrictions associated with COVID-19.

Like many other parents who have been affected by gun violence, she wants to see a return to hanging as the penalty for murder.

“People are literally killing people with weapons that are built to defend against people coming from outside of your country to invade, not to use against your neighbours and your friends. I believe they really need to go to the cabinet and really talk through this hanging thing. Hang some of these here,” said the grieving woman.
kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb