Double murder ruins Father’s Day

Twenty-one-year-old Michael Elliot was anticipating becoming a first-time dad, but early yesterday  morning, as the world prepared to celebrate Father's Day, his life, and that of 17-year-old Kenrick Ebanks was snuffed out by gunmen in Naggo Head, Portmore, St Catherine.

A woman who is reportedly in her second trimester of pregnancy was also shot and injured in the attack. 

"None of these youths don’t give trouble. Michael barely even talk. You can barely get a sentence out of him more time. It’s just from work to him yard and it is the same ting for Kenrick. Dem nuh trouble people at all and the entire Naggo Head can testify to that.  The poor girl all six months pregnant and dem shoot her up too," a resident said. 

According to police reports, about 4:30 a.m., armed men forced their way into a dwelling on White Lane in the community and opened fire at the occupants. The police were alerted and upon the lawmen's arrival, Ebanks and Elliot were found lying in a pool of blood while the injured woman was taken to hospital for treatment. 

As she looked at the funeral home vehicle that contained the remains of the two young men, a relative of Elliot was moved to tears. She said she saw him just hours before he was killed. Elliot had spent most of Saturday at her house before attending a bike show in the night. 

"He was his usual jovial self. Him come back [from the bike show] about after 12 and mi ask him if him a go back out and him say him never sure. Him know say once him deh pon di road, mi nago sleep until him get back,"  she said. 

The woman said that although her brother had returned home, she was restless for most of the night. Shortly after drifting off to sleep, she was awakened by a 'kicking' sound. 

"Mi just hear like the door a kick off. Is next door mi live and after that mi start hear shot. All now mi can’t believe what happen. Mi see the police and the van with dem body but mi just can’t believe. When mi look pon mi bredda, him head swell up big big," she said. 

Yesterday's tragic incident was not the first attack on the Portmore family. In December 2021, their house was among three that was destroyed by arsonists. Fifteen persons were left homeless.