Residents of The Ivy, St Michael, were in shock on Tuesday following the brazen daylight shooting of 21-year-old Omari Jordan on Monday, with some suggesting that a quicker police response to an earlier robbery might have helped prevent the tragedy.
Jordan, of Belle Gully, St Michael, was reportedly spending time with friends in the neighbourhood when two masked men approached and opened fire. He attempted to flee but collapsed along 8th Avenue, where he died from his injuries.
When Barbados TODAY visited the area, residents were visibly shaken. Veronica Sinclaire, a long-time neighbour who lives close to the victim’s family, said she was devastated by the news.
“When I heard that he was shot and killed, I felt like I lost one of my children,” she said sorrowfully.
She recalled: “He always say ‘good morning’ when I pass. He’s very mannerly… a nice child as far as I know him. He never pass and don’t call out to me… he does call me ‘Mam’.”
Sinclaire, who has suffered two strokes and spoke with difficulty, dismissed Jordan’s past, stating that it did not change how he interacted with her, adding: “He’s the same way. He don’t pass and don’t call out to me.”
None of the other residents who spoke to Barbados TODAY wished to have their photographs taken or be identified — an indication not only of the fear that has now gripped the community but doubt that law enforcement would respond to their calls.
One resident suggested the deadly shooting might have been avoided if police had responded to a robbery that happened earlier in the evening: “A robbery occurred with some college student…. [Residents] called the police, and we were all outside waiting. I called the police, the guy who got robbed called the police, and they never came. Up to now, they never came.”
The woman explained that they had remained outside in anticipation of the police’s arrival.
“We came inside, even this was long afterwards. My daughter heard the shots and said, ‘Mummy, that sounds like gunshots.’ Then some other neighbours came to the door and said yes, they hear gunshots,'” she said.
“Before, you would hear gunshots, you would see everybody outside. Nobody went outside . . . because of how the incident went down with the robbery and how one of the same guys that was doing the robbery approached the other boy to stab him or whatever because he injected himself, my mind went straight to the guy.”
The resident expressed frustration at what she described as a delayed police response.
“My problem is last night I was very disappointed in the law because it was like so much units were out there when [they] heard it was shots,” she said. “I do believe that if the police presence was felt out here at that time yesterday — God forgive me if I’m wrong — but I believe that that shooting probably wouldn’t happen yesterday. I believe that it probably would deter whoever was planning to come out there and shoot.”
A student of Springer Memorial Secondary School who lives in The Ivy said she no longer feels safe after the incident in her neighbourhood.
“First time hearing gunshots. The place is so scary nowadays,” she said. “Like how the cars just be driving past and you hear the ‘pop pop’, I just think those are gunshots. So, yesterday, when I actually heard it, I was like scared…. How I feel after yesterday, I had to close up all the windows and everything because I don’t feel safe anymore in Barbados. I know there are places that have a lot of crimes, but I don’t feel safe no more.”
The student said she now feels especially anxious: “I pray each and every single day because I just pray to the Lord to get me to school safely and get me back safely because, as I was telling (my mother) just now, I would really like to leave, like just pack up and move away if an opportunity can come to me; honestly, cause it’s still scary.
“Nothing happened to me, but it’s so scary, so I don’t feel safe no more.”
louriannegraham@barbadostoday.bb
