'It really hit us hard'
April 15, 2008
A grim silence hung over Moores Primary and Junior High School in Clarendon yesterday as students reflected on the death of their classmate, 12-year-old Kemar Brown, who was shot senselessly by gunmen on Sunday.
Kemar, who was on his way to visit his mother, was shot after he stopped to purchase snacks at a shop in the hotbed Buck's Common community close to May Pen.
Shopkeeper Dave 'Suckie' Morgan, 40, was also murdered during the incident. He was shot six times in the chest by the gang of gunmen shortly after noon.
Their murders have rocked the entire parish and bring to five the number of persons shot dead in the troubled community and 51 in the parish since the start of the year.
Tears flowed freely yesterday as grieving classmates placed bougainvillea petals on Kemar's empty desk.
Traumatised students, including Kemar's cousin, Rajae Osbourne, had to be assisted to the guidance counsellors' office as the reality of Kemar's passing hit home.
Stirred by the grief etched on the faces of her students, class teacher Rena Reid, also overwhelmed with grief, tried to console her class by penning words of comfort on the classroom's four chalkboards.
"It really hit us hard," Reid said, behind bloodshot eyes. "Especially the children that he was very close to."
Reid said that despite a long counselling session by representatives of the Ministry of Education, many of the students were still deeply affected by the incident.
"Some of them don't even talk since they came in and saw that he was really dead. Most of them heard the news yesterday, but I think coming here and seeing that it is true made it worse," Reid added, as she turned her gaze to Osbourne, who sat silently with his eyes fixed on Kemar's empty desk.
Talk of the gruesome killings reverberated throughout the entire parish yesterday. Residents, in hushed tones, condemned the murders and the overall outbreak of violence in the once peaceful central parish....
Author: Corey Robinson
Source: Jamaica Observer
