It was a holiday weekend of terrifying, sustained gang violence in the city that injured 9 people and killed three. It started on Friday night just after 8:00 on Antelope Street Extension when five people were shot while playing cards in a yard. The victims included three women.
They survived but the two young men aged 18 and 21 died from gunshot injuries.
Monica Bodden has more in this report:….
Monica Bodden Reporting
It happened in front of this yard on Antelope Street extension - where 5 persons were shot - 2 fatally.
Around 8:30 on Friday night, 19 year old Khiry Haulze, 21 year old Juvanna Gillett and 27 year old Karen Rivers, were gambling inside this yard - while 18 year old Eric Arana and 21 year old Dwayne Tillett was leaning on this brown abandoned vehicle parked on the street side in front of the same yard.
A gunman - described to be dressed in full black - rode from the direction of Elston Kerr Street into Antelope Street - took out a handgun and opened fire in the crowd.
Anika Mariano, Sister of Eric Arana
"According to my understanding he was sitting near the horse and carriage area on a creme color pick-up truck at the back smoking his weed and while there someone just came up and shoots him."
Monica Bodden
"It was a group of them right?"
Anika Mariano, Sister of Eric Arana
"Yes it was a group of them sitting there and another group were playing cards and he was at the back of the car smoking."
Anika Mariano is the sister of 18 year old Eric Arana - one of the two men who was killed on Friday night - Arana was shot 8 times just couple yards away from his home - 2 to the right side of his abdomen, right armpit, right upper arm, center of his back, to the right side of his buttocks, to the center of his chest and to the right side of the chest.
We were told his 8 year old brother witnessed the murder of his older brother.
Anika Mariano, Sister of Eric Arana
"They (killers) didn't even mention that they have anything with him. He is a person that would inform us if he was in trouble with anyone. Because we only have each other - we don't have a mother or a father or anybody. It's only us alone and all of are brothers and sisters and he always talk to us. He prefers to talk to us more than anybody else. I just knows that he tells us that all kind of things are happening out there, he don't even go out to buy butane gas for his own house, I always quarrel with him for that. He says to me 'Anika, now a days men are dropping like nothing, they will shoot me with my gas tank' he is aware of the situation our country is going through right now, he fears for his life, he prefer to stay at home. His home is his base."
Many believe that Arana was the intended target. In fact we understand the gunman emptied the gun on him.
But today his family is still trying to put together the pieces from Friday night's shooting. Arana was no saint but they still can't understand why someone would want to take his life.
Anika Mariano, Sister of Eric Arana
"He is not involved in any gang. i will not come on the media and say that my brother is a saint, he did his petty robbery, he's been to jail - he spend three months in jail, he just came out since October and he was trying to change his life. You don't even hear on the news that he do anymore robbery because its only petty - he come home and he sits down. When police pick up Eric from his house it's because a crowd of them hang out here. When you hang with a crowd they always think that you are up to do mischief."
And for his family, even though they want justice, they don't believe they will be getting any.
Anika Mariano, Sister of Eric Arana
"He always talks about how men are dropping like birds and see it happens to him also while e was just relaxing smoking his weed. He is not out there planning any murder. I can swear, I don't care but my brother didn't kill anyone. He is not a murderer. I just want to bring it out like that and I really want the government to do something about these murders because the same way that the police came to pick up my brother for weed - where were they when he got shot? Nowhere to be found and they take it as 'just another youth drop' and it don't make any sense you tell them who shot your bother because they will go back to tell the person that it is you, then the other person life will be in danger, so I already know that this will be another unsolved crime."
19 year old Khiry Haulze was shout to the left side of the buttocks, while 21 year old Juvanna Gillett was shot to the right shoulder and 27 year old Karen Rivers was shot to the right ankle.
As we mentioned before, someone else was killed in Friday night's spray of bullets.
He is 21 year old Dwayne Tillett - a horse and carriage tour guide - who is believed to have only been in the area to pick up his paycheck from his boss.
Tillett who lived only a block away - was shot to the center of his abdomen and the left side of the back. He fought for his life for almost 2 hours before he past away.
Today the young man's family is outraged at what happened on Friday night.
Sherlet Williams, Aunt, Dwayne Tillett
"The tragedy about this whole situation for our family is because Dwayne was not the type of person that was in any kind of gang. He wasn't related to any kind of gang activities or anything like that. He was a hard worker and an ambitious young man and he was there simple to collect his salary. He was never the intended target and it was just unfortunate that he was at that place at that time."
Monica Bodden
"So he wasn't even hanging out. He just went to pick up his salary."
Sherlet Williams, Aunt, Dwayne Tillett "No he wasn't. Every evening at news time Dwayne is already in his home and he wasn't hanging out there. Yes there was some people gambling in the horse and carriage, Dwayne was not a part of that. Dwayne was simply leaning against the vehicle that was park there waiting for his employer to come to collect his salary and come back home."
