Lifelong friends gunned down

The families of two men from the Denham Town community in west Kingston are now reeling after their loved ones were shot and killed while on their way to work yesterday morning.

Reports are that around 7:30, childhood friends, 21-year-old Donald Walters Jr from Dumfries Street, and 23-year-old Genireo Mitchell, from Blount Street, left their homes and took their usual route to work. Upon reaching the intersection of North and Orange streets at 7:50 a.m., they were shot and killed by unidentified assailants.

When THE STAR visited the homes of both men, some residents had gathered to offer support to their families, but all their expressions were filled with grief and sorrow.

"Oh God, why? Why dem kill mi baby? Oh God dem kill mi everything," were the words uttered in between the tears of Angela MacFarlin, Mitchell's grandmother. She told THE STAR that her grandson was not a troublemaker and his only focus was work and his family.

"God know mi tiad a dis. Mi grandson never trouble nobody and dem come kill him, fi wah? Nothing! All him did a duh a guh work because him wah something out a life and dem kill him" MacFarlin said.

Similarly, at the apartment complex across the street, Walters' mother, Marsha James, was on the very step where she last spoke to her son. Crying, she questioned why he had to die.

"Him was a good son, him nuh give problem. Him nuh gi trouble. All him duh a guh work and come home. All a night time, him nuh stay a road. If him even come look fi mi and it late, five minutes and that's it," said James.

"The last time mi see him was Sunday right yah suh, and him seh to mi 'Mommy mi soon mek yuh stop work and mek yuh can rest.' That is my son. Him all about family," James said.

Walters' girlfriend and the mother of his one-year-old son, Courtnei-Ann Getten, said that he was a dedicated father and partner.

"If him nuh deh home or deh a work, him a play football. Him is a man weh nuh stay out late, him nuh inna badness," Getten said. Already broken, she said what pains her even more is that her son will now be forced to grow up without his father.

"Him was a good father, him always mek sure seh we alright and mi just cah believe seh him gone. Mi nuh know weh fi duh. Weh mi a guh tell mi baby when him ask fi him daddy?" questioned Getten with her eyes filled with tears.