Tonight two men are lucky to be alive after a gunman on a murder mission emptied his 9 millimeter pistol into a crowd on Vernon Street this morning. The shooting victims are cousins: 39-year-old Kevin Jones known as ‘Kelbo' and 24 year old Deon Brackett known as ‘Buju.' They were part of a work crew trenching a ravine for a fence in a lot at no. 91 Vernon Street. Eyewitnesses say that just before mid-day, a man wearing a helmet on a motorcycle slowly rode by and pulled out a gun, firing as many as nine shots into the crowd. Two men were hit and many more nerves were rattled, mainly because not only did the gunman fire into a crowd but he did so in front of the Mayflower Street police booth and in plain view of at least one police officer and a BDF soldier stationed at the booth. We were on the scene shortly after the shooting and Keith Swift spoke to eyewitnesses Lillette Barkley-Waite and Edgar X Richardson.
Lillette Barkley-Waite, Witnessed Shooting
"There was anywhere from 7 to about 8 shots total and at that time I hit the ground and there was a police officer there and everybody else kind of either dropped or scattered. The next time I became aware of was that one of the workers came up and said, ‘I dead I dead I dead,' he kept repeating that and when I looked up there was blood coming from the left side of his head. He was hit somewhere in the head area on the left side. Then when I looked over on the other side somebody was picking up another one out of the little trench that they were digging and that one got hit in the buttocks, I don't know whether it was right or left. By this time the motorcycle was still kind of driving the street."
Keith Swift,
The shooter was on a motorcycle?
Lillette Barkley-Waite,
"Yes the shooter was on a motorcycle."
Keith Swift,
You got a look at him?
Lillette Barkley-Waite,
"Nope, never saw who it was."
Keith Swift,
Did he say anything before shooting?
Lillette Barkley-Waite,
"No words were said, it was just pow and then pow pow pow."
Edgar X Richardson, Witnessed Shooting
"When the first few shots rang out, I lift up my head and looked and saw this person on a motorbike aiming a weapon in the general direction of the crowd so we all hit the ground but by then two of my workers had already been hit."
Keith Swift,
The victims were out here working right?
Edgar X Richardson,
"Oh yes they were working diligently, I am proud of their performance. You see in many instances we tend to say well our youths are disrespectful, they are not productive, and I took the opportunity to give them the opportunity to make a few bucks while this project was going on and this is a sideline reward; something completely unexpected and really disturbing."
Late word from the KHMH this evening is that the bullet which was lodged in Kevin Jones' temple has been successfully removed. There is still a bullet in Deon Brackett's buttocks and left thigh. Police recovered 10 9-millimeter shells from the scene and are seeking the shooter.
