Peacemaker gunned down

A fragile sense of revival that residents said existed in Sunshine Corner on Balcombe Drive in Olympic Gardens, St Andrew, was shattered on Sunday following the murder of two men.

“Yo, about eight year or nine year this nuh gwaan bout ya. Look pon this, wi cook ya so every night and play games; a wi chill spot this,” said Mark*, pointing at a section of a yard that showed signs of merriment. But on Sunday night, right across the street from the spot, the life of 54-year-old Gregory Henderson, a man who residents say longed for peace in the area, was cut short. Up to press time, the police were attempting to positively identify the other victim. For Mark, even as he stared at the blood-stained asphalt yesterday, the reality of the incident remained difficult to believe.

“Is a stalwart in the community, everybody love him. Him help people and right here so a just cook and give away to people every Friday. We even do it Saturday,” he said. Just a few feet from where Henderson’s blood stained the asphalt, his mother stood with her hands clasped, rocking slowly as she stared at the spot where her son lost his life — the very place she had repeatedly warned him to avoid.

“Mi tell him how much time don’t stay out on the front and him say everything cool, everything alright. Mi tell him ‘Harry don’t sit down out there. Harry, don’t stay out there’, but him want to see the place come back to how it used to be,” she said, her voice barely rising above a whisper.

The grieving mother said she received the devastating call sometime Sunday night, a moment that has left her heartbroken. Still struggling to process the loss, she said she could not bring herself to go outside that night.

“I wouldn’t want to see that,” she trailed off.

But beyond the bloodshed and disbelief, the mother is now left clinging to memories of the son she saw just hours before his death.

“Our relationship was so good man because him even come eat dinner yesterday (Sunday) and help him little baby with her homework, help her to draw the little stick them because she is learning to count, and oh my, she is so close to him,” she lamented.

Yet, while she struggles to cope, another painful task awaits her: finding a way to tell one of his four daughters, who is just five years old, that her father is gone.

“I don’t know how to tell her. She lie with me and I ready her and bring her to school because I was asking the teacher to break the news to her. I don’t know how to do it.” The mother said Henderson had desperately wanted to see peace return to the community, which he remembered as a place where residents could gather, laugh and talk without fear.

Henderson’s longtime girlfriend, Denise Glave, rejected any suggestion that he was involved in criminal activity, insisting that he was a generous man who wanted the best for those around him. She said she became suspicious that something was wrong when she noticed more than 20 messages relating to him after being together for some 14 years.

“Him is not a don, mi nuh want nuh body portray that. He is nice man, will give away his last. Him was a wonderful partner, too girly girly, but this just messed up. Him nuh get himself no problem or so I don’t want no don name on him,” she said.

But as residents gathered at the chill spot, the double murder casts a dark shadow over plans for the upcoming Heroes’ Day weekend.

“Wi did a go cook and thing. Look wi just a say we a build back the community and uplift the community. Over three years ah the first mi just start come back and chill out here,” said Mark.

*Name changed to protect identity