A concert in the Majesty Gardens on the weekend, which was staged to promote peace in the violence-prone community, ended prematurely when a man was shot and killed at the height of the performances.
It was about 8:40 pm, by the constabulary’s estimation, when multiple shots were fired, sending patrons fleeing for cover. When the mayhem was over, residents found the body of 44-year-old Louis Gordon of a New Road address lying in a pool of blood and summoned the police. The police say that Francis was shot in the upper body.
Record producer Claude Sinclair, who hosted Saturday’s concert in association with Queen Kamarla, Catalyst Entertainment Group and Peace Management Initiative, was among those sent running for safety.
But he told the Jamaica Observer that he refuses to allow the incident to deter his mission of helping to bring peace to volatile communities across the island.
“I spent a lot of my years in America [but] I gave back my green card because I wanted to come back to Jamaica to see how best I can play my little part in helping my country to thrive,” said Sinclair, who served as a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force for years before migrating to the United States in 1980.
He returned to the island in 2009.
“I will do it again and again. I am not afraid to go out and do what I can do as a concerned Jamaican, as a patriotic Jamaican. I will do what is necessary to get my country back to where it was,” Sinclair insisted.
Sinclair said he didn’t think the event was targetted, but rather that the perpetrators used it as an opportunity to cut Gordon down.
“Apparently the shot was fired at maybe one individual, I am not sure; I didn’t see the actual shooter. but if it was directed at us, because the place was jam packed then there would be more casualties. I think it was just an availability of [opportunity for] them doing what they do,” he said.
— Racquel Porter
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