Champion of justice Jenny Cameron murdered - Michael Gayle’s mom gunned down while heading home

For decades, Jenny Cameron, 74, walked home from work daily through a dirt track on Johns Avenue, along Waltham Park Road, St Andrew.

The mother of six is well known by everyone in her community and made several headlines as she fought for justice for the killing of her mentally challenged son Michael Gayle in 1999. On Tuesday, the elderly woman was attacked and killed along Johns Avenue as she walked home.

According to police reports, about 5:13 p.m., residents heard explosions and contacted the police. Upon the lawmen's arrival, Cameron was seen laying face down in the dirt path with what appeared to be gunshot wounds to her upper body. She was taken to the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) where she was pronounced dead.

Cameron's son Edward Hamm said he had a bad feeling yesterday as he travelled home from work. He said he called his son's mother to check on him and was told all was well. Still, the dreadful feeling lingered.

"I just felt empty like a part of me was missing. While I was in the bus, I got a call from my sister who asked me where I was. She said she get a call from KPH to say that our mom was at the hospital and we should come immediately. She say she get to understand that she was robbed and shot," he said.

Hamm said that upon receiving the devastating phone call, he was flooded with emotions and found it challenging to even think straight.

"I felt like my entire life left my body. I ran from the bus and across the road and almost get hit down. Drivers were just honking horns at me but is like I couldn't care less. I just wanted to be at my mother's side. When I saw her she was laying on her back dead. My mother was also my father," he said.

The distraught son said that at no time did his mother give any indication that she was being targeted or felt threatened.

"If anything was happening she would have told me and we would just pray about it. At this moment, I don't know what to say and it's like I am blank. I just don't know what happened but I know that we came to collect her personal belongings and her handbag that she usually have is missing. My mother has been walking there from I was a child and it's an area where she is well known," he said.

In August 1999, Gayle, the second of Cameron's six children, was beaten by members of the security forces in Olympic Gardens, where his family lived. Gayle, who attempted to breach a curfew, died from his injuries at the KPH two days later. Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) brought the matter to the attention of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The then director of public prosecutions (DPP), Kent Pantry, ruled that there was no one criminally responsible for Gayle's death. A.J. Nicholson, the attorney general at the time, said Gayle's death was "deeply regrettable", and the State paid his family almost $3 million.

Human rights activist and former executive director of JFJ, Carolyn Gomes described Cameron as a woman of utmost strength.

"Miss Jenny was always determined to get justice for her son Michael Gayle. Her strength was pivotal in the early stages of JFJ and helped to lead the way in what needed to be done to get justice. Even after the coroner's jury said that all the security forces were guilty of manslaughter and the DPP declined to prosecute, she insisted that they had to try something and everything she could to get justice for her son," she said.