Students mourn victim of ball game tragedy

Students of The Lodge School were in shock and dismay on Wednesday as they struggled to come to terms with the wanton gun slaying of a well-loved schoolmate, Shawnathon Chase, 13, who was an innocent spectator at a netball game at Silver Hill, Christ Church on Tuesday.

Police said they responded to a report of gunshots being fired at Silver Hill about 7:48 p.m. 

“Investigations revealed that a game of netball was being played on the hardcourt when two culprits appeared from behind the housing units and discharged a number of shots in the direction of the hardcourt,” Police Communications and Public Affairs Officer Inspector Ryan Brathwaite recalled.

Inspector Brathwaite reported that the victim, who was watching the game, was shot in the abdomen and chest. He was taken by private motorcar to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), where he died from his injuries during surgery.

Principal of The Lodge School Stephen Jackman said on Wednesday afternoon that he was forced to close the Massiah Street, St John school early and call in counsellors because of the devastating impact the child’s murder has had on the boy’s fellow pupils.

“We would have been closed Thursday and Friday anyway for BSSAC. We closed early today because, to be honest, the children were shocked; they were disoriented, they couldn’t understand it, and some of them expressed some real disappointment and anger at such a tragic loss,” Jackman, former president of the Barbados Association of Principals of Public Secondary Schools (BAPPSS), told Barbados TODAY.

“We had counsellors in to work through that with them and we have to have the counsellors in again. Everything that I have seen and heard about this young man, he was well-loved by his colleagues. It is sad and particularly hard for young people who are trying to understand why someone would be snatched away from them like this,” the educator lamented.

Jackman also had a message for young people who are perpetrating crime and violence.

“In all honesty,” he said, “this is difficult for a family; this is difficult for a school. No school, no family should have to go through a tragic loss like this. I would ask all of the young people that are walking this path [of crime and violence] to take a step back…take a look at what it costs. This young man wasn’t involved, but now he is dead. And it is that…life, that damage to the society as a whole that we are causing in this violence…and I would ask them to stop.”

Jackman said he supported Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s call for all to get on deck and stop the violence.

Police have launched an appeal to anyone who may have witnessed the shooting incident or have any information that might help them to contact the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-8477, Police Emergency at 211 or the Oistins Police Station at 418-2612 or 418-2608. (EJ)