News

'Don't kill my mom'

'Baby Campbell' was overcome with emotion after members of her family were killed in Bayshore Park, Harbour View, St. Andrew, yesterday. - Ricardo Makyn

SIX CHILDREN FROM one family, watched as two relatives and a man were brutally murdered by gunmen in Bayshore Park, Harbour View, St. Andrew in the wee hours of yesterday morning.

One of the children, who begged the gunmen not to shoot her mother during the gruesome attack, was shot in the thigh.

Dead are Ivy 'Precious' Campbell, 47, her son Miguel Panton, 27, and Panton's friend Everton 'Eva' Brown. Another man was shot dead in the community shortly after 3 p.m., but police are unable to say if that is a related incident.

Terrifying moment

Campbell's 22-year-old daughter recalled how she grabbed her eight-year-old sister and hid in a closet. It was a terrifying moment. She told THE STAR she heard when intruders burst through the back entrance of her home while she lay in bed at approximately 1 a.m. She snapped awake, rushed to the closet and quietly listened as the strange men walked through the house.

"Is like dem (intruders) know him because when him say, 'Ah me, Eva,' dem say dem know, and den mi hear three shot fire, and mi hear one of my sister say, 'Don't kill me mother!" she said. "Then mi hear dem sey, 'Come a only pickney lef' so dem leave."

The children later told relatives the men were masked.

Shocked

The relative said she was so shocked, she remained in the closet clutching her sister for what seemed like a long time until the police came. "Mi just say, "Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy." she said, 'That's all mi coulda do."

With two relatives dead, the family is unsure how they will make it through. Campbell is survived by six of her children, ages eight to 33. Panton had three children, the oldest seven. "I don't know if dey even understand what happen," a relative said, "I don't think dey even know."

She remembered that Campbell, a member of the Wildman Street Pentecostal, was very religious but that night she was praying more than usual. Campbell's brother Timothy, 44, said they found a note stating that men had called her and threatened to kill her, however, no report had been made to the police. The fearful family members have since fled the area. In fact, when THE STAR was on the scene, the relatives were waiting to get their belongings from the house, which forensic police officers had secured to collect evidence.

"The children don't want to stay here. We cannot stay here because we don't see any one jumping around to help us," a family member said. "We do not know what the motive is so we haffi leave." Another confirmed that they will never be returning to the community, "Who would want to return to that house wey dem kill mother, and son?" he commented.

Deadly link

Investigators believe that the killing was sparked by the death of reputed Bayshore Park area leader, Leroy Farquharson, who was found shot and burnt with another man in West Kingston on Friday morning.

Police believe that friends of Farquharson took the law into their own hands and turned their rage on the three people they were convinced were connected to Farquharson's killer.

While unsure about why she was killed, Timothy said he knew his sister was not involved in anything illegal and that she was killed simply by association. "I believe dem kill my sister because she is a higgler downtown," he told THE STAR. "But she not involved with any mix-up."

Area 4 Chief Crime officer, Superintendent Cornelius Walker quoted Genesis 9:6, "Those who shed blood, their blood will be shed," he said, adding that he strongly believed the government should re-institute hanging.

Police informed THE STAR that they will be maintaining a strong presence in the area.