The second murder took place around 8 last night and while 35-year-old Delroy Chaplin did not have kids of his own, he has left behind a grieving wife. Chaplin lived in an isolated area of Ladyville, but was still attacked by a gunman who chased him into his neighbor's yard before shooting him multiple times. Courtney Menzies reports.
The men who killed 35-year-old Delroy Chaplin needed to maneuver through mud, floodwater and London bridges to get to his home in order to ambush him.
His common-law wife, Pamela Staine, is left wondering what her husband could have done to warrant gunshot wounds in his head and chest. Staine explained that Chaplin left their Ladyville home at 7:30, and less than 30 minutes later she heard a barrage of gunshots. Her neighbors told her they just saw Chaplin riding home on his bicycle a few moments before - and she knew immediately that her husband was dead.
Pamela Staine, Common-law Wife
"It's dark out there because there are no lights here, but I know that it was him so I wanted to go and see him, so I took my phone and I started to run out there and then look at him on the ground to see him, because I just knew that it was him and when I reach to the front of the neighbor yard because you cant see the front of the yard coming from the back, but when I reach the side of the front I look over and I see him sprawl out in neighbor's yard. He was already dead. I gone over his body and I spoke to him and I was crying. He was already dead and I see that they shot him in his head a few times. It looks like more than one. He actually got shot in his face. The bullet burst through the face and came out through the side and then like the majority of the blood is in his head - everything pouring out to the side and I lift up his shirt and I see he has one shot right above his heart."
A pink ideal that Chaplin bought moments before his death marks the spot where his body was found. Staine retrieved it, saying it was the last thing she had from her husband of three years. She told us that she had a premonition - that he would soon be killed. He came close on Sunday, when a minor that was alongside him was injured in a shooting incident.
Pamela Staine, Common-law Wife
"He was with a young man the same young man a few nights ago who got shot on Perez Road at that said time when the young man got shot he was with that same young man. So maybe I say that they went to hail a friend and when they step out of the friend house somebody was at the back of the yard. The young man who got shot says that somebody is at the back and he alerted the person who lives in the house. They went back in the house to tell the man that somebody was at the back of his yard and when the man came out from back of the yard the person done reach the street and the person they tried to follow him and ask him what he was doing back here and who is he and the person just turn around and fired a shot and it went through the little boy's neck."
While this seems like more than just a coincidence, the police don't believe the two incidents are connected. Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, told us what the police know.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Upon arrival, they saw the lifeless body of a young man, Delroy [Chaplin] with gunshot injuries. He was taken to the hospital and was pronounced dead on arrival. Information we gathered is that [Chaplin] left home to go and purchase weed or cannabis from someone not too far from where he lived and on his way back home he was ambushed and was shot. That matter we believed was the result of an internal dispute he had with a group that he is associated with. I'm not going to go into much details in terms of why but we believe that it has to do with the proceeds of a crime and I'll leave it at that."
Reporter
"Is there any truth that this particular shooting on Perez Road is related to previous weekend shooting that happened?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"No."
Staine has a conflicting theory though, because she claims that Chaplin did not have any problems with anyone in the area. She did admit, though, that he has committed robberies in the past, and she knew one day that his actions would come back to haunt him.
Pamela Staine, Common-law Wife
"I just try support him. I try to make him stop steal, because I use to always tell that they will killed him because of the stealing."
According to our archives, Chaplin was sentenced to prison back in 2009 for robbing the same store twice. In 2018, he was charged again for a robbery at Pacheco's Jewelry Store. Staine said that since he came out of prison three years ago, he has tried to work for a living by doing odd jobs.
That area of Ladyville has seen multiple murders over the past few years.
