Security guard killed while heading home

Family members of 39-year-old Sheldon Guthrie, a security officer of Simpson Road in Rockfort, Kingston, are currently shell-shocked after learning that he was shot and killed on Monday while making his way home from work.

The news served as a hammer blow to the grieving family who rushed Guthrie's mother to a hospital after the ailing senior suffered a stroke six hours before his demise.

It is believed that Guthrie, widely described as a dedicated father of two, was being trailed for several minutes by two men on a motorbike before they pounced on him at the intersection of Stanton Terrace and Fairway Avenue in St Andrew. The police's Corporate Communications Unit confirmed the incident which took place at 12:30 a.m. The cops said that Guthrie was hit several times in the upper body and head after the gunmen opened his car door when he stopped at a traffic light.

Persons in the community believe that Guthrie is the latest victim of a deadly gang war in the troubled east Kingston community. His death brings to six the number of persons killed within the space over the past two weeks, as rival gunmen from the Base1 and Pleasant Heights areas trade bullets in a fight for turf.

When THE STAR visited Guthrie's home yesterday, several of his relatives stated that they were too distraught and declined to speak. However, a nephew said he sensed that something went wrong with Guthrie, who would normally be home at a certain hour.

"Mi siddung a wait up on him and when me see say it a get too late mi call and ask him weh him deh. Him tell me say him soon forward and mi fi open the gate and kotch the lock somewhere. Normally, him would a come in round 6 or 7 o'clock but the guard weh fi work wasn't there, so the boss asked him fi stay back a little," the tearful relative said.

He added that Guthrie treated him like a son and the news of his death has hit him very hard.

"Wi have a close bond, him always a see to it that me alright and everything. Mi always say a three pickney him have, me, him daughter and him son due to how him look out fi me," he said.

One of Guthrie's cousins said that although he was the youngest of three boys, Guthrie always saw to it that his mother was well taken care of.

"We in so much pain right now. All I can say is that he was a very good son, father and citizen in this community," she said.