A hardworking mother, an employee of the Gros Islet Town Council (GITC), is reeling under pain and suffering for the loss of her two sons (only children), over a two-year period.
Her son Kevin Mc. Phee, 27, of Caye Mange, Gros Islet, is reported to have sustained multiple gunshot wounds during a shooting incident that occurred in the Monchy area, Sunday night, making this latest homicide the 43rd in the country to date.
According to police reports, they visited the Monchy area about 9.35 p.m. where they found Mc. Phee’s body riddled with gun shots.
Reports state that residents were left traumatized by the sounds of gunfire that rattled through the community …with some persons describing the incident as ‘a war zone’.
Viverly Kenson, an aunt of the deceased spoke to reporters at the scene of the crime and expressed shock and horror at this gruesome act. “They killed him and they left him on the ground, his girlfriend was there with him and they had to push the girlfriend away so that we would not get shot,” she said.
Kenson said the family has been “taking it hard, so hard” and especially as she tries to console her sister, Kevin’s mother.
This is the second son this Gros islet mother has lost to gun violence. Her younger son Kerwin Mc. Phee, 23 about two years ago, in September 2020; his bullet-riddled body was found along the Pigeon Island causeway.
Describing Sunday’s incident, Kenson said: “They were walking (Kevin and girlfriend) and the driver and persons in the vehicle …they shot at him.”
She adds that the young couple were heading “to one of his friend’s mom house, because it was a birthday (yesterday) and they were just going to have a nice time with the mother and that incident occurred.”
Another family member said, “We are taking it real hard, because they shot Kareem on his birthday and it is going to be two years since that happened …and my aunt lost her son about three months ago, and now it’s Kevin…it’s hard.”
Despite concerted efforts from law enforcement officers to reel in the criminal elements, and even as the authorities recently enacted gun legislation to hand down stiffer penalties for persons found in possession of illegal guns and ammunition, the ‘war zone’ escalates in some communities. This worrisome trend is of major concern to law enforcement officers and it’s proving to be a tough and ‘challenging menace’ to overcome.
An elderly resident from the area pleaded for restraint and for the young men to try and resolve their differences without guns and violent physical confrontations. “I know that when people were fighting before, it was cuffing one another, but now it guns … and kill one time. They have to put them (those) guns down, they have to do that,” said the senior female.