Mother of gas station shooting victim wants answers

The mother of Odaine Parkes, one of two men who was killed at a Red Hills Road gas station on Monday, says he was a quiet and calm individual.

Speaking to THE WEEKEND STAR yesterday, the distraught mother, Marie, was inconsolable.

"Even in his adult stage, he would cry if I shout at him. He was working at a gas station on Hagley Park Road but he told me that the job wasn't paying much and he left it. I don't know of him being involved in any bad company and I always talk to him about that. I just don't know what happened," she said.

Parkes, 25, lived in Portmore, St Catherine. According to police reports, about 12:15 p.m. he and another man, who is still unidentified, were at the gas station when they were pounced upon and shot by unknown assailants. They were taken to the Kingston Public Hospital where they were pronounced dead. A video of the incident that was captured on a surveillance camera showed a man firing shots into the white Subaru in which Parkes and the other man were sitting. As the gunman sprayed them with bullets, Parkes tried to escape but fell to the ground after opening the car door.

Marie, who currently lives outside of Jamaica, said, on the day her son was killed, she felt extremely sick at work and got a gut feeling that something was wrong. A few hours later, her worst fears were confirmed when she got a phone call from Parkes' father.

"Lawd, Jeezas Christ. I told my co-worker that I wasn't feeling good. Nowhere was hurting me but I just didn't feel good. I went home and, hours later, I saw his father calling me and he said he had bad news. I called someone else to take the phone because I didn't want to hear any bad news and then I heard that Odaine get shot. Mi say mi feel empty. Oh God, all I can ask is 'Why?'," she said between tears. Marie said that all she wants is answers.

"I just want to ask the person who killed him why he did it. If he did you something wrong, why didn't you take it to the police? When I saw the video of how the shooter just killed my son and how my son tried to run and fell ... I just want to know why did he have to die?," she wailed.